Chapter Five.

Chapter Five.A Secret Conspiracy.I awoke from a confused dream of having a quarrel with Aunt Matilda at Tapioca Villa about taking the tea-tray up to the parlour, and, in my passion at being condemned to exercise Molly’s functions, kicking over the whole equipage, and sending all the cups and saucers flying down the kitchen stairs—where I could hear them clattering and crashing as they descended—to the far different reality that, instead of being still under my uncle’s roof at Islington, I was actually at school at Dr Hellyer’s. And that dreadful gong which had interrupted my slumbers, and which must once have belonged to a mandarin of the most warlike tendencies, and of three buttons at least, judging by the din it was capable of, was banging away down-stairs and reverberating through the house; while the score of boys or so, who occupied the dormitory along with Tom and myself, were jumping out of bed and dressing as hurriedly as they could in the semi-darkness of the wintry morning, which the twinkling of the solitary gas-jet, still alight near the door, over Smiley’s couch, rendered even more dusky and dismal by contrast.The windows were shrouded in a thick white fog, that had come up with the rising tide from the sea, which I was thus prevented from seeing had I the time to spare to look out; although, the thought of doing so never crossed my mind, for, independently of the noise of the gong and the scurrying of the other fellows out of the room as soon as they were partly dressed, being suggestive of my also hurrying on my clothes as quickly as I possibly could, I hardly needed Tom’s reminder to “look sharp!” Really, no sooner had I stood on my feet and been thoroughly roused, than I was assailed by such a feeling of ravenous hunger that it would have been quite sufficient inducement for me to make haste without any further spur to my movements. I certainly did not intend to be late for breakfast—this morning at all events—and so I told Tom!Within less than two minutes, I think, I had scrambled into my shirt and trousers; and, throwing my other garments over my arm in imitation of Tom, I was racing along with him down to the lavatory in the lower regions where our ablutions had to be performed. Thence, there was another mad rush up-stairs again to the refectory, which we reached before the second gong, calling us to the matutinal meal, had ceased to sound.Porridge, with mugs of skim sky-blue milk-and-water, and a couple of slices of bread-and-butter for each pupil, comprised the bill of fare; but it might have been a banquet of Lucullus from the way I did justice to it after my prolonged fast. Noticing my voracity, the old woman, who, as on the evening before, acted as mistress of the ceremonies, gave me an extra allowance of porridge, which made me her friend thenceforth—at least at meal-times, that is!On breakfast being cleared away, the “refectory,” by the simple process of removing the dirty table-cloth from the long table occupying the centre of the apartment, was converted into a school-room, Dr Hellyer coming in immediately after a third gong had rung for a short interval, and taking the armchair at the head—that seat of honour which had been temporarily filled by “the Cobbler” during our meal being vacated by Monsieur Phélan with much celerity as soon as the Doctor’s expansive countenance was seen beaming on us through the doorway, “like the sun in a fog,” as Tom whispered to me.The great man had not long taken his seat before he called me up to him, and, with many “ah’s,” interrogated me as to my acquirements. He was evidently not greatly impressed with my proficiency; for, severely commenting on the ignorance I displayed for a boy of my age, he relegated me to the lowest class, under Mr Smallpage, or “Smiley,” who set me tasks in spelling and the multiplication table, after which school regularly began for the rest.Books were produced in the most extraordinary and mysterious fashion from hidden cupboards, and desks improvised out of hinged shelves of deal affixed to the walls, and supported by brackets likewise movable, one of the forms along the centre table being shifted for the accommodation of those taking writing lessons; and, at intervals, Dr Hellyer had up a batch of boys before his throne of office, rigidly putting them under examination, varied by the administration of “pandies,” and the imposition of ever so many lines of Caesar to be learnt by heart, when they failed in construing it.At sharp eleven, a large clock over the fireplace, with a round face like that of our podgy preceptor, telling the time, Dr Hellyer pushed back his chair as a sign that our morning studies were over; and the boys then all trooped out into the playground for an hour, coming back again punctually at twelve to dinner in the re-transformed room, at the summons of the inveterate gong.As the butcher had been lately conciliated apparently, there was no recourse to tinned meats of Australian or South American brand on the first occasion of my partaking of this meal at the establishment. Roast beef, and plenty of it, was served out to us, with the accompaniment of potatoes and cabbage, vegetables being cheap at that time on account of the watering-place’s season being ended; while such of the pupils whose parents paid extra for the beverage, in the same way as they did for French and dancing lessons from the “Cobbler,” were supplied with a mug apiece of very small beer—the remainder, and far larger proportion of us, being allowed cold water “at discretion.”After dinner came afternoon school, lasting till four o’clock; when followed another hour’s diversion in the playground; and then, tea, similar to the repast I had been a spectator, but not partaker of, the evening before. After tea a couple of hours’ rest were allowed for reflection, in the same apartment, during which time the boys were supposed to learn their lessons for the next morning, but didn’t—Dr Hellyer relegating his authority at this period of the day generally to Smiley, who went to sleep invariably when in charge of the room, or the Cobbler, who as invariably sneaked out and left the pupils to themselves, when the consequences may be readily imagined.At eight o’clock, to bring this category of our day’s doings to a close, the final gong sounded a tattoo, sending us all aloft, like poor Tom Bowling, to the dormitories to bed.Such was the ordinary routine of our life at the Doctor’s, according to my two years’ experience, the only exception being that our meals varied, as to quantity and quality, in direct proportion to the Doctor’s credit in the neighbouring town; for, I will do our preceptor the justice to state that, should fortune smile on him, in respect to the facilities afforded him by the tradespeople with whom he dealt, he treated us with no niggard hand and we fared well; while, should the fickle goddess Fortune frown, and provisions be withheld by the cautious purveyors thereof until ready money was forthcoming, then we suffered accordingly, there being a dearth upon the land, which we had to tide over as best we could, hoping for better times. Every Wednesday and Saturday, too, there was no afternoon school, the boys on these half-holidays being either allowed additional exercise in the so-called “playground,” or taken out for long dreary walks under the escort of Smiley or the Cobbler; and on Sundays we were always marched to church in state, be the weather what it might, wet or fine, Dr Hellyer leading the van on these high parade occasions—in full academical costume, and wearing a most wonderful sort of archdiaconal hat that had a very imposing effect—with the two assistant masters acting as the rearguard, and closing the procession.In summer we used to have more latitude in the way of outdoor exercise, the boys being taken down every morning to bathe in the sea, when the tide allowed, before breakfast; or, if the far out-reaching sands were not then covered with water, later on in the day. We had also cricket and football on the common during the hours of relaxation spent in winter on the barren playground in the rear of the house. Sometimes, in our solemn walks under charge of the under-masters, we occasionally encountered “the opposition school” or college fellows belonging to a large educational institution near us, when it was no rare occurrence for a skirmish to ensue between the two forces, that led to the most disastrous results, as far as subsequent “pandies” and impositions from the Doctor were concerned, or, rather, those who had to undergo them!This, of course, was in the working terms—when the school was in full blast, so to speak, and everything carried on by rule in regular rotation; but, at vacation time, when all the boys had dispersed to their several homes and were enjoying themselves, as I supposed, to their heart’s content, in their respective family circles, the life that I led was a very different one. As at my uncle’s house, I was still the solitary Ishmael of the community, doomed to spend holidays and periods of study alike under the academical roof.The first of those educational interludes during my stay at the establishment occurred at Christmas, shortly after I had taken up my residence there, and the thought of all the jollity and merry-making my more fortunate schoolfellows would have at that festive season, about which they naturally talked much before the general breaking-up, made me feel very lonesome when left behind at Beachampton; although I did not for a moment desire to return to Tapioca Villa, in order to share the delightful society of my relatives there. However, this feeling wore off in a few days, and long before the boys came back I had learnt to be pretty well contented with my solitary lot.But, when the midsummer recess came round, in due course, matters had altered considerably for the better on my being again left behind in my glory; and, but for the fact of being deprived of the close companionship of my constant chum Tom, I can honestly say that my life was far happier than when the school was going on as usual.I was alone, it is true, but then I had the great counterbalancing advantage of almost entire liberty of action, being allowed to roam about the place at my own sweet will and pleasure, with no lessons to learn, and the only obligation placed on me that of reporting myself regularly at meal-times; when, as the penalty for being late consisted in my having to go without my dinner or tea, as the case might be, and I possessed an unusually sensitive appetite which seldom failed to warn me of the approach of the hour devoted to those refections, even when I was out of earshot of the gong, I earned a well-founded reputation for the most praiseworthy punctuality—the lesson I had when I first arrived at the school having given me a wholesome horror of starvation!In my wanderings about the neighbourhood I explored the country for miles round. As for the beach, I investigated it with the painstaking pertinacity of a surveying officer of the hydrographic department of the Admiralty mapping out some newly-discovered shore. I knew every curve and indentation of the coast eastwards as far as Worthing, with the times of high and low water and the set of the tides, and was on familiar terms with the coastguardsmen stationed between Eastbourne and Preston and thence westwards. Crabs, too, and zoophytes, sea anemones, and algae, were as keenly my study as if I were a marine zoologist, although I might not perhaps have been able to describe them in scientific language; while, should a stiff south-westerly gale cast up, as it frequently did amongst other wreckage and ocean flotsam and jetsam, fresh oysters torn from carefully cultivated beds further down the coast, none were sooner acquainted with the interesting fact than I, or gulped down the savoury “natives” with greater gusto—opening them skilfully with an old sailor’s jack-knife, which was a treasure I had picked up amidst the pebbly shingle in one of my excursions.My chief resort, however, when I could steal away thither without being perceived from the school, was the quay close to the entrance to the harbour, at the mouth of the little river which there made its efflux to the sea.Here the small coasting craft and Channel Island steamers of low draught of water that used the port would lay up while discharging cargo, before going away empty or in ballast, as there was little export trade from the place; and it was my delight to board the different vessels and make friends with the seamen, who would let me go up the rigging and mount the masts to the dog-vane, the height of my climbing ambition, while telling me the names of the different ropes and spars and instructing me in all the mysteries of shipping life, in which I took the deepest interest.I was a born sailor, if anything.There is no use in my denying the fact I must have inherited it with my father’s blood!Once, Dr Hellyer spying about after me, on account of my not having turned up either at dinner or tea—a most unusual circumstance—found me messing with the hands in the fo’c’s’le of a coal brig.I recollect he pushed me along back to the school the whole way, holding me at arm’s length by the scruff of the neck; and, besides the infliction of a round dozen of “pandies” and an imposition of five hundred lines of Virgil’s Aeneid to learn by heart, threatened me with all sorts of pains and penalties should he ever catch me going down to the quay again.But, all his exhortations were of no avail! Go to the harbour amongst the vessels I would, whenever I could get an opportunity of sneaking away unnoticed; and, the more I saw of ships and sailors, the more firmly I made up my mind to go to sea as soon as I saw a chance of getting afloat, in spite of the very different arrangements Uncle George had made for my future walk in life—arrangements that were recalled to my mind every quarter in the letters my relation periodically wrote to me after the receipt of the Doctor’s terminal reports on my character and educational progress. These latter were generally of a damaging nature, letting me in for a lecture on my bad behaviour, coupled with the prognostication, which I am sure really came from Aunt Matilda through this side wind, that unless I mended my ways speedily I should never be promoted to that situation of clerk in uncle’s office which was being held open for me as soon as I was old enough, and the thought of which—with the enthralling spell of the ocean upon me—I hated!To tell the strict truth, these quarterly reports of Dr Hellyer in respect of my conduct were not wholly undeserved; for, with the exception of displaying a marked partiality for mathematics, which, fortunately for my subsequent knowledge of navigation, Mr Smallpage kindly fostered and encouraged to the best of his ability, my studies were terribly irksome to me, and my lessons being consequently neglected, led to my having impositions without number. I believe I must have learnt the whole of Virgil by heart, although I could not now construe the introductory lines of the first book of the Aeneid; and as for history I could then, nor now, no more tell you the names of the Roman emperors, or the dates of accession of the various Kings of England, than I could square the circle, or give you the cubical contents of the pyramids of Egypt off-hand.The personal rows, too, that I got into with Dr Hellyer were innumerable; and I really think he wore out three flat rulers while I was a member of the school, in inflicting his dearly-loved “pandies” on my suffering palms.The most important of these, what I may term “private differences,” between my worthy preceptor and myself, after my first experience of his “way” of making the boys obey him, without flogging them, arose from the same cause—Master Slodgers, my enemy from the date of my entrance within the select academy, although, if you recollect, he did not “get the best of me” even then!Some six months after that memorable occasion, having developed much bone and sinew in the meantime, besides cultivating the noble art of self-defence under the tuition of my chum Tom, I challenged the lanky cur on the self-same ground where he had first assailed me; when I gave him such a beating that he could not leave his bed in the dormitory for nearly a week afterwards. For this—what I considered—just retaliation, I received the encomiums of the majority of the fellows, who detested Slodgers for his sneaking as well as bullying ways with the youngsters; but Dr Hellyer, with whom he still continued a favourite, took my triumph in such ill part, that he treated me to no less than six dozen “pandies,” incarcerating me besides in an empty coal cellar, on a diet of bread and water, in solitary confinement below for the same length of time that Slodgers was laid up ill in bed above stairs.However, after that day I had it all my own way with the boys, for I was strongly-built and thick-set for my age, looking two years older than I really was. I could fight and lick all the rest of the fellows at the time, not excepting even Tom my instructor, although he and I were much too good friends to try conclusions on the point, and I was the acknowledged leader of the school. Athletics, indeed, were my strong point, for I may say, almost without egotism, that I had so cultivated my muscles to the sad neglect of my proper studies, that I could swim like a fish, dive like an Indian pearl hunter, run swifter than anybody else, and play cricket and football with the best; but, as far as my real school duties were concerned, I’m afraid I was a sad dunce, as I was always at the bottom of my class.I am now approaching the period to which these reminiscences of my school-days have all along tended, albeit I have been a long time in reaching it.You may remember my calling your attention to the fact of the Doctor always marching us to church on Sundays, and heading the procession, wearing a most peculiar-looking hat the while?Well, “thereby hangs a tale,” as a wise jester says in one of Shakespeare’s plays.I had just completed my two years’ residence under the academical roof; the summer vacation had come and gone; the boys were all back again at school, and settled down for the winter term; the month of October had flown by with unlagging footsteps; and November had come in, gloomy and dismal, with white fogs and sea mists—such as haunt some parts of the southern coasts in the autumn.The “Fifth” was a great anniversary at the establishment.If Guy Fawkes’ Day were uncared for elsewhere, we at all events held the memory of the defunct conspirator in high reverence; and invariably did it such honour by the explosion of gunpowder, in the shape of squibs and crackers as our means afforded.The pocket-money of those having friends with long purses was saved up for weeks beforehand for this purpose; while any boys without a regular allowance had to “beg or borrow,” so that they might contribute to the general fund.The couple of odd shillings Uncle George had slipped into my hand on leaving London, had, of course, melted away long ago, and, until this year, he never seemed to think of renewing the tip, supposing, perhaps, that I did not want anything, for I was too proud to ask him; but at Michaelmas, when my birthday came round—I was just fourteen then—he quite unexpectedly sent me a post-office order for half-a-sovereign in the possession of which I felt as rich as Croesus.Tom, naturally, was told of the arrival of this enormous treasure instantly. Indeed, he accompanied me on the next half-holiday, when we were allowed out, to get the order cashed; but beyond expending about eighteenpence in hot three-corner jam tarts and ginger beer, at a favourite confectioner’s patronised by the school, we devoted the sum to purchasing the best fireworks we could get for the money, carrying our explosives back to the school carefully concealed on our persons, and secreting them in our lockers.“We’ll have such a lark!” said Tom.“Won’t it be jolly!” I chimed in, with equal enthusiasm—adding, however, a moment afterwards, as the reflection occurred to me, “What a pity, though, Tom, that the Fifth falls this year on a Sunday? I declare, I never thought of it before!”“Nor I,” said he, and both our faces fell six inches at least.But, Tom’s soon brightened up again, as some happy thought flashed across his mind.“Why, it’ll be all the better, Martin,” he cried out, greatly to my surprise.“How can that be?” I exclaimed, indignantly. “The Doctor will never allow us to have our bonfire, I’m sure!”“Hush, you stupid,” said Tom. “I do declare your brains must be wool-gathering! Stop a minute and listen to me.”He then whispered to me a plan he had thought of for signalising “the glorious Fifth,” in spite of Dr Hellyer, and in a manner which that worthy would never dream of. It was a scheme quite worthy of Tom’s fertile imagination.“Oh, won’t it be a lark!” I cried, when he had finished; and we both then burst into an ecstasy of laughter at the very idea of the thing.

I awoke from a confused dream of having a quarrel with Aunt Matilda at Tapioca Villa about taking the tea-tray up to the parlour, and, in my passion at being condemned to exercise Molly’s functions, kicking over the whole equipage, and sending all the cups and saucers flying down the kitchen stairs—where I could hear them clattering and crashing as they descended—to the far different reality that, instead of being still under my uncle’s roof at Islington, I was actually at school at Dr Hellyer’s. And that dreadful gong which had interrupted my slumbers, and which must once have belonged to a mandarin of the most warlike tendencies, and of three buttons at least, judging by the din it was capable of, was banging away down-stairs and reverberating through the house; while the score of boys or so, who occupied the dormitory along with Tom and myself, were jumping out of bed and dressing as hurriedly as they could in the semi-darkness of the wintry morning, which the twinkling of the solitary gas-jet, still alight near the door, over Smiley’s couch, rendered even more dusky and dismal by contrast.

The windows were shrouded in a thick white fog, that had come up with the rising tide from the sea, which I was thus prevented from seeing had I the time to spare to look out; although, the thought of doing so never crossed my mind, for, independently of the noise of the gong and the scurrying of the other fellows out of the room as soon as they were partly dressed, being suggestive of my also hurrying on my clothes as quickly as I possibly could, I hardly needed Tom’s reminder to “look sharp!” Really, no sooner had I stood on my feet and been thoroughly roused, than I was assailed by such a feeling of ravenous hunger that it would have been quite sufficient inducement for me to make haste without any further spur to my movements. I certainly did not intend to be late for breakfast—this morning at all events—and so I told Tom!

Within less than two minutes, I think, I had scrambled into my shirt and trousers; and, throwing my other garments over my arm in imitation of Tom, I was racing along with him down to the lavatory in the lower regions where our ablutions had to be performed. Thence, there was another mad rush up-stairs again to the refectory, which we reached before the second gong, calling us to the matutinal meal, had ceased to sound.

Porridge, with mugs of skim sky-blue milk-and-water, and a couple of slices of bread-and-butter for each pupil, comprised the bill of fare; but it might have been a banquet of Lucullus from the way I did justice to it after my prolonged fast. Noticing my voracity, the old woman, who, as on the evening before, acted as mistress of the ceremonies, gave me an extra allowance of porridge, which made me her friend thenceforth—at least at meal-times, that is!

On breakfast being cleared away, the “refectory,” by the simple process of removing the dirty table-cloth from the long table occupying the centre of the apartment, was converted into a school-room, Dr Hellyer coming in immediately after a third gong had rung for a short interval, and taking the armchair at the head—that seat of honour which had been temporarily filled by “the Cobbler” during our meal being vacated by Monsieur Phélan with much celerity as soon as the Doctor’s expansive countenance was seen beaming on us through the doorway, “like the sun in a fog,” as Tom whispered to me.

The great man had not long taken his seat before he called me up to him, and, with many “ah’s,” interrogated me as to my acquirements. He was evidently not greatly impressed with my proficiency; for, severely commenting on the ignorance I displayed for a boy of my age, he relegated me to the lowest class, under Mr Smallpage, or “Smiley,” who set me tasks in spelling and the multiplication table, after which school regularly began for the rest.

Books were produced in the most extraordinary and mysterious fashion from hidden cupboards, and desks improvised out of hinged shelves of deal affixed to the walls, and supported by brackets likewise movable, one of the forms along the centre table being shifted for the accommodation of those taking writing lessons; and, at intervals, Dr Hellyer had up a batch of boys before his throne of office, rigidly putting them under examination, varied by the administration of “pandies,” and the imposition of ever so many lines of Caesar to be learnt by heart, when they failed in construing it.

At sharp eleven, a large clock over the fireplace, with a round face like that of our podgy preceptor, telling the time, Dr Hellyer pushed back his chair as a sign that our morning studies were over; and the boys then all trooped out into the playground for an hour, coming back again punctually at twelve to dinner in the re-transformed room, at the summons of the inveterate gong.

As the butcher had been lately conciliated apparently, there was no recourse to tinned meats of Australian or South American brand on the first occasion of my partaking of this meal at the establishment. Roast beef, and plenty of it, was served out to us, with the accompaniment of potatoes and cabbage, vegetables being cheap at that time on account of the watering-place’s season being ended; while such of the pupils whose parents paid extra for the beverage, in the same way as they did for French and dancing lessons from the “Cobbler,” were supplied with a mug apiece of very small beer—the remainder, and far larger proportion of us, being allowed cold water “at discretion.”

After dinner came afternoon school, lasting till four o’clock; when followed another hour’s diversion in the playground; and then, tea, similar to the repast I had been a spectator, but not partaker of, the evening before. After tea a couple of hours’ rest were allowed for reflection, in the same apartment, during which time the boys were supposed to learn their lessons for the next morning, but didn’t—Dr Hellyer relegating his authority at this period of the day generally to Smiley, who went to sleep invariably when in charge of the room, or the Cobbler, who as invariably sneaked out and left the pupils to themselves, when the consequences may be readily imagined.

At eight o’clock, to bring this category of our day’s doings to a close, the final gong sounded a tattoo, sending us all aloft, like poor Tom Bowling, to the dormitories to bed.

Such was the ordinary routine of our life at the Doctor’s, according to my two years’ experience, the only exception being that our meals varied, as to quantity and quality, in direct proportion to the Doctor’s credit in the neighbouring town; for, I will do our preceptor the justice to state that, should fortune smile on him, in respect to the facilities afforded him by the tradespeople with whom he dealt, he treated us with no niggard hand and we fared well; while, should the fickle goddess Fortune frown, and provisions be withheld by the cautious purveyors thereof until ready money was forthcoming, then we suffered accordingly, there being a dearth upon the land, which we had to tide over as best we could, hoping for better times. Every Wednesday and Saturday, too, there was no afternoon school, the boys on these half-holidays being either allowed additional exercise in the so-called “playground,” or taken out for long dreary walks under the escort of Smiley or the Cobbler; and on Sundays we were always marched to church in state, be the weather what it might, wet or fine, Dr Hellyer leading the van on these high parade occasions—in full academical costume, and wearing a most wonderful sort of archdiaconal hat that had a very imposing effect—with the two assistant masters acting as the rearguard, and closing the procession.

In summer we used to have more latitude in the way of outdoor exercise, the boys being taken down every morning to bathe in the sea, when the tide allowed, before breakfast; or, if the far out-reaching sands were not then covered with water, later on in the day. We had also cricket and football on the common during the hours of relaxation spent in winter on the barren playground in the rear of the house. Sometimes, in our solemn walks under charge of the under-masters, we occasionally encountered “the opposition school” or college fellows belonging to a large educational institution near us, when it was no rare occurrence for a skirmish to ensue between the two forces, that led to the most disastrous results, as far as subsequent “pandies” and impositions from the Doctor were concerned, or, rather, those who had to undergo them!

This, of course, was in the working terms—when the school was in full blast, so to speak, and everything carried on by rule in regular rotation; but, at vacation time, when all the boys had dispersed to their several homes and were enjoying themselves, as I supposed, to their heart’s content, in their respective family circles, the life that I led was a very different one. As at my uncle’s house, I was still the solitary Ishmael of the community, doomed to spend holidays and periods of study alike under the academical roof.

The first of those educational interludes during my stay at the establishment occurred at Christmas, shortly after I had taken up my residence there, and the thought of all the jollity and merry-making my more fortunate schoolfellows would have at that festive season, about which they naturally talked much before the general breaking-up, made me feel very lonesome when left behind at Beachampton; although I did not for a moment desire to return to Tapioca Villa, in order to share the delightful society of my relatives there. However, this feeling wore off in a few days, and long before the boys came back I had learnt to be pretty well contented with my solitary lot.

But, when the midsummer recess came round, in due course, matters had altered considerably for the better on my being again left behind in my glory; and, but for the fact of being deprived of the close companionship of my constant chum Tom, I can honestly say that my life was far happier than when the school was going on as usual.

I was alone, it is true, but then I had the great counterbalancing advantage of almost entire liberty of action, being allowed to roam about the place at my own sweet will and pleasure, with no lessons to learn, and the only obligation placed on me that of reporting myself regularly at meal-times; when, as the penalty for being late consisted in my having to go without my dinner or tea, as the case might be, and I possessed an unusually sensitive appetite which seldom failed to warn me of the approach of the hour devoted to those refections, even when I was out of earshot of the gong, I earned a well-founded reputation for the most praiseworthy punctuality—the lesson I had when I first arrived at the school having given me a wholesome horror of starvation!

In my wanderings about the neighbourhood I explored the country for miles round. As for the beach, I investigated it with the painstaking pertinacity of a surveying officer of the hydrographic department of the Admiralty mapping out some newly-discovered shore. I knew every curve and indentation of the coast eastwards as far as Worthing, with the times of high and low water and the set of the tides, and was on familiar terms with the coastguardsmen stationed between Eastbourne and Preston and thence westwards. Crabs, too, and zoophytes, sea anemones, and algae, were as keenly my study as if I were a marine zoologist, although I might not perhaps have been able to describe them in scientific language; while, should a stiff south-westerly gale cast up, as it frequently did amongst other wreckage and ocean flotsam and jetsam, fresh oysters torn from carefully cultivated beds further down the coast, none were sooner acquainted with the interesting fact than I, or gulped down the savoury “natives” with greater gusto—opening them skilfully with an old sailor’s jack-knife, which was a treasure I had picked up amidst the pebbly shingle in one of my excursions.

My chief resort, however, when I could steal away thither without being perceived from the school, was the quay close to the entrance to the harbour, at the mouth of the little river which there made its efflux to the sea.

Here the small coasting craft and Channel Island steamers of low draught of water that used the port would lay up while discharging cargo, before going away empty or in ballast, as there was little export trade from the place; and it was my delight to board the different vessels and make friends with the seamen, who would let me go up the rigging and mount the masts to the dog-vane, the height of my climbing ambition, while telling me the names of the different ropes and spars and instructing me in all the mysteries of shipping life, in which I took the deepest interest.

I was a born sailor, if anything.

There is no use in my denying the fact I must have inherited it with my father’s blood!

Once, Dr Hellyer spying about after me, on account of my not having turned up either at dinner or tea—a most unusual circumstance—found me messing with the hands in the fo’c’s’le of a coal brig.

I recollect he pushed me along back to the school the whole way, holding me at arm’s length by the scruff of the neck; and, besides the infliction of a round dozen of “pandies” and an imposition of five hundred lines of Virgil’s Aeneid to learn by heart, threatened me with all sorts of pains and penalties should he ever catch me going down to the quay again.

But, all his exhortations were of no avail! Go to the harbour amongst the vessels I would, whenever I could get an opportunity of sneaking away unnoticed; and, the more I saw of ships and sailors, the more firmly I made up my mind to go to sea as soon as I saw a chance of getting afloat, in spite of the very different arrangements Uncle George had made for my future walk in life—arrangements that were recalled to my mind every quarter in the letters my relation periodically wrote to me after the receipt of the Doctor’s terminal reports on my character and educational progress. These latter were generally of a damaging nature, letting me in for a lecture on my bad behaviour, coupled with the prognostication, which I am sure really came from Aunt Matilda through this side wind, that unless I mended my ways speedily I should never be promoted to that situation of clerk in uncle’s office which was being held open for me as soon as I was old enough, and the thought of which—with the enthralling spell of the ocean upon me—I hated!

To tell the strict truth, these quarterly reports of Dr Hellyer in respect of my conduct were not wholly undeserved; for, with the exception of displaying a marked partiality for mathematics, which, fortunately for my subsequent knowledge of navigation, Mr Smallpage kindly fostered and encouraged to the best of his ability, my studies were terribly irksome to me, and my lessons being consequently neglected, led to my having impositions without number. I believe I must have learnt the whole of Virgil by heart, although I could not now construe the introductory lines of the first book of the Aeneid; and as for history I could then, nor now, no more tell you the names of the Roman emperors, or the dates of accession of the various Kings of England, than I could square the circle, or give you the cubical contents of the pyramids of Egypt off-hand.

The personal rows, too, that I got into with Dr Hellyer were innumerable; and I really think he wore out three flat rulers while I was a member of the school, in inflicting his dearly-loved “pandies” on my suffering palms.

The most important of these, what I may term “private differences,” between my worthy preceptor and myself, after my first experience of his “way” of making the boys obey him, without flogging them, arose from the same cause—Master Slodgers, my enemy from the date of my entrance within the select academy, although, if you recollect, he did not “get the best of me” even then!

Some six months after that memorable occasion, having developed much bone and sinew in the meantime, besides cultivating the noble art of self-defence under the tuition of my chum Tom, I challenged the lanky cur on the self-same ground where he had first assailed me; when I gave him such a beating that he could not leave his bed in the dormitory for nearly a week afterwards. For this—what I considered—just retaliation, I received the encomiums of the majority of the fellows, who detested Slodgers for his sneaking as well as bullying ways with the youngsters; but Dr Hellyer, with whom he still continued a favourite, took my triumph in such ill part, that he treated me to no less than six dozen “pandies,” incarcerating me besides in an empty coal cellar, on a diet of bread and water, in solitary confinement below for the same length of time that Slodgers was laid up ill in bed above stairs.

However, after that day I had it all my own way with the boys, for I was strongly-built and thick-set for my age, looking two years older than I really was. I could fight and lick all the rest of the fellows at the time, not excepting even Tom my instructor, although he and I were much too good friends to try conclusions on the point, and I was the acknowledged leader of the school. Athletics, indeed, were my strong point, for I may say, almost without egotism, that I had so cultivated my muscles to the sad neglect of my proper studies, that I could swim like a fish, dive like an Indian pearl hunter, run swifter than anybody else, and play cricket and football with the best; but, as far as my real school duties were concerned, I’m afraid I was a sad dunce, as I was always at the bottom of my class.

I am now approaching the period to which these reminiscences of my school-days have all along tended, albeit I have been a long time in reaching it.

You may remember my calling your attention to the fact of the Doctor always marching us to church on Sundays, and heading the procession, wearing a most peculiar-looking hat the while?

Well, “thereby hangs a tale,” as a wise jester says in one of Shakespeare’s plays.

I had just completed my two years’ residence under the academical roof; the summer vacation had come and gone; the boys were all back again at school, and settled down for the winter term; the month of October had flown by with unlagging footsteps; and November had come in, gloomy and dismal, with white fogs and sea mists—such as haunt some parts of the southern coasts in the autumn.

The “Fifth” was a great anniversary at the establishment.

If Guy Fawkes’ Day were uncared for elsewhere, we at all events held the memory of the defunct conspirator in high reverence; and invariably did it such honour by the explosion of gunpowder, in the shape of squibs and crackers as our means afforded.

The pocket-money of those having friends with long purses was saved up for weeks beforehand for this purpose; while any boys without a regular allowance had to “beg or borrow,” so that they might contribute to the general fund.

The couple of odd shillings Uncle George had slipped into my hand on leaving London, had, of course, melted away long ago, and, until this year, he never seemed to think of renewing the tip, supposing, perhaps, that I did not want anything, for I was too proud to ask him; but at Michaelmas, when my birthday came round—I was just fourteen then—he quite unexpectedly sent me a post-office order for half-a-sovereign in the possession of which I felt as rich as Croesus.

Tom, naturally, was told of the arrival of this enormous treasure instantly. Indeed, he accompanied me on the next half-holiday, when we were allowed out, to get the order cashed; but beyond expending about eighteenpence in hot three-corner jam tarts and ginger beer, at a favourite confectioner’s patronised by the school, we devoted the sum to purchasing the best fireworks we could get for the money, carrying our explosives back to the school carefully concealed on our persons, and secreting them in our lockers.

“We’ll have such a lark!” said Tom.

“Won’t it be jolly!” I chimed in, with equal enthusiasm—adding, however, a moment afterwards, as the reflection occurred to me, “What a pity, though, Tom, that the Fifth falls this year on a Sunday? I declare, I never thought of it before!”

“Nor I,” said he, and both our faces fell six inches at least.

But, Tom’s soon brightened up again, as some happy thought flashed across his mind.

“Why, it’ll be all the better, Martin,” he cried out, greatly to my surprise.

“How can that be?” I exclaimed, indignantly. “The Doctor will never allow us to have our bonfire, I’m sure!”

“Hush, you stupid,” said Tom. “I do declare your brains must be wool-gathering! Stop a minute and listen to me.”

He then whispered to me a plan he had thought of for signalising “the glorious Fifth,” in spite of Dr Hellyer, and in a manner which that worthy would never dream of. It was a scheme quite worthy of Tom’s fertile imagination.

“Oh, won’t it be a lark!” I cried, when he had finished; and we both then burst into an ecstasy of laughter at the very idea of the thing.

Chapter Six.Our Plot and its Results.“Now, mind,” said Tom, after a pause in our giggling, “we won’t tell any one else about it!”“No,” I agreed; “it will be all the more fun to keep it to ourselves, and, besides, there will be less chance of our being found out.”True to our compact, not a word of our conspiracy was breathed to a soul in the school; and the eventful day approached at last, if not “big with the fate of Caesar and of Rome,” pregnant with a plan for astonishing our master, and celebrating the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot in a manner never known before in the traditions of the establishment—although, perhaps, perfectly in keeping with the idea of the original iconoclast, whose memory we intended to do honour to in fitting manner.When Dr Hellyer awoke to the knowledge of the fact that the Fifth of November fell this year on a Sunday, had he generously made allowance for the patriotic feelings of his pupils, and allowed them to have their usual annual firework demonstration on the Saturday prior, which happened to be a half-holiday, the matter might have been harmoniously arranged, and Tom and I been persuaded at the last moment to abandon our daring enterprise—possibly, that is, though I doubt it much.But, no. Dr Hellyer grasped the chance afforded him by the fortuitous cycle of dates as a splendid opportunity for putting down what had been a yearlybête noirto him; and so, he rushed madly on to his fate.After dinner in the refectory, on the third of the month—two days beforehand, so as to give them clear notice of his intentions, in order not be accused of taking them unawares, and causing them to lay out their savings uselessly—just as the boys were going to rush out of the room for their usual hour’s relaxation before afternoon school, he detained them, with a wave of his well-known fat arm and the sound of his rolling accents.“Boys,” he cried, “wait a moment! I have—ah—determined that—ah—as Guy Fawkes’ day this year—ah—will be next Sunday, when—ah—of course—ah—you will be unable with any regard for the solemn associations—ah—of the—ah—Sabbath, be—ah—able to celebrate it in your usual fashion—ah—that—ah—you must—ah—postpone—ah—your—ah bonfire—ah—till next year.”A loud murmur ran round the room at this, an expression of popular opinion which I had never heard previously in the school.The master, however, was equal to the occasion.“Silence!” he roared out at the pitch of his voice, making the ceiling ring again, dropping his “Ahs” and drowning the sibillation of the malcontents by sheer dint of making a superior amount of noise. “Any boy I catch hissing, or otherwise expressing disapproval of my orders, had better look out, that’s all! There will be no celebration of Guy Fawkes’ day here, do you hear me! No, neither this year, nor next year, nor any year again, so long as I am master of this school! You can disperse now; but, mark my words, any one found letting off a squib or cracker, or discovered to be in the possession of gunpowder, or other explosive compound, will have to render an account to me. Boys, you’re dismissed!”Bless you, when Dr Hellyer ceased speaking there was a silence that could almost be felt, and we all sneaked out of the room with corresponding quietude—adjourning to the playground as if we were going to attend a funeral instead of going out for diversion!But, it was a silence that meant mischief, a quietude that was next door to hatching a mutiny; and, when we had got outside, there was a general howl of indignation that the Doctor could not have helped hearing, although the door communicating with the house was closed and he was still in the refectory in front, while we were at the rear of the establishment.Of course, as was natural at such a crisis, the boys grouped themselves into little coteries, considering what should be done in such an unlooked-for emergency. Even Slodgers, the sneak, pretended to be as angry as anybody, desiring to have revenge for the deprivation of our annual gala show; but Tom and I kept aloof from all, and held our own counsel, much to the disgust of Slodgers, as we could easily see, for the cur wanted to hear what we might suggest so that he could go and report to Dr Hellyer.We were too wary birds for Slodgers, however; we were not going to be caught, like young pigeons, with his chaff—no, we knew better than that!We agreed with the mass of our schoolfellows that the Doctor’s arbitrary proclamation was an act of unmitigated tyranny and a “jolly shame;” but, beyond that, Slodgers could get nothing out of us, although we listened cordially to all the others had to say, and regulated our procedure accordingly.“I vote,” said Batson, one of the big boys like Tom and I were now, “that we buy our fireworks on Saturday, in spite of what Old Growler has declared, and if he does not allow us to let them off in the evening, why we’ll have ‘a grand pyrotechnic display,’ as the newspapers say, at night in the dormitories.”“Hear, hear!” shouted all the fellows in rapturous enthusiasm at such a bold idea; and even Tom and I wondered whether this plan would not be better than ours. But it was only for a moment. Reflection told us that the Doctor would certainly hear of our doings in time, through Slodgers, to nip the brilliant design in the bud ere it could be matured; so, while the majority of the boys devoted all their spare cash on the Saturday afternoon, when some of us were allowed to go into the town, in the purchase of squibs and crackers, and Roman candles, we declined all share in the enterprise on the plea of having no money—an excuse readily recognised, as the finances of most of the pupils were known to be not in a flourishing condition.While Batson and his confrères took advantage of the half-holiday to go out to buy these fireworks, Tom and I remained indoors, he on the plea of indisposition and I for the ostensible purpose of writing out an imposition; but we both utilised the time thus afforded us by artfully removing the store of combustibles we had already secreted in our lockers, bringing them down-stairs, and placing them for safety and concealment in the cellar below, where our boxes were kept.It was a timely precaution.Slodgers had evidently played the sneak as usual, although keeping up the semblance all the while of being one of the prime movers in the pyrotechnic display suggested by Batson. Indeed, he went so far as to buy and bring home a shilling’s-worth of detonating powder to aid the contemplatedfeu de joie; but, no sooner had the boys got in and gone up-stairs to arrange their clothes for Sunday, as was our custom before tea-time every Saturday afternoon, than Dr Hellyer, accompanied by Smiley and the Cobbler, and the old woman, who had the keenest eye of the lot for the detection of contraband stores, came round to the dormitories on an exploring and searching expedition. There was a grandexposéof the conspiracy, of course, at once; for, the contents of all the lockers were turned out and the newly-purchased fireworks confiscated to the last cracker!“Ah—you can’t deceive me!” exclaimed the Doctor, as he departed triumphantly, his arms and those of his assistants loaded with the spoils of their raid, “I told you I would not have any fireworks in my school this year, and shall keep my word, as you see! You have only to thank yourselves—ah—for wasting your money! But, for disobeying my orders the boys will all stop in next week on both half-holidays;” and, so concluding his parting address, with a triumphant grin on his huge round face, he went out, leaving the baffled conspirators in agonies of rage, swearing vengeance against the unknown spy who had betrayed their preparations.Tom and I were jubilant, however. Nothing could have worked better for the end we had in view; as, after this failure of Batson, the surprise we intended for the Doctor would be all the more unexpected and correspondingly successful.It was a sad night, though, for the other fellows.When Sunday morning came, the boys got up grumbling, moody, defiant, and almost inclined to weep over their frustrated efforts; while Tom and I were so jolly that we could have sung aloud.We always breakfasted later on this day of the week, and after the meal was done generally lounged about the room while the old woman was clearing up, waiting till it was time for us to assemble for what we styled our “church parade;” but, this morning, the boys seemed out of sorts, and went back again up-stairs after they had finished, leaving only Tom and myself in the refectory, while the old woman was removing the breakfast things and putting on a clean table-cloth for dinner. She quitted the apartment as soon as she had swept up the fireplace, placing enough coal on the fire to last till the afternoon, and otherwise completing her arrangements—then going down to the kitchen, from which we knew she would not emerge until we came back from church again, when it would be time to sound the gong for dinner—which meal was also an hour later on Sundays than on week days; and, being generally of a more sumptuous description, it required extra cooking.This was the opportunity Tom and I had waited for all along, in pursuance of our plan; so, long ere the old woman had reached her sanctum below, we were at work, having taken advantage of the time we were washing in the lavatory before breakfast to put our fireworks and combustible matter in our pockets, whence we now quickly proceeded to extract the explosive agents, and deposit them in certain fixed positions we had arranged beforehand after much consultation.Now, what I am going to relate I would much rather not tell about, as it concerns what I consider a very shameful episode in my life. The only thing I can urge in extenuation of my conduct is the lax manner in which my earlier life was looked after in my uncle’s house, where my worse passions were allowed full play, without that judicious control which parental guidance would perhaps have exercised on my inherent disposition for giving vent to temper, with no thought whatever of the consequences of any hare-brained act I might commit. I narrate, therefore, the circumstances that led to my running away from school, merely because my mad and wicked attempt to injure Dr Hellyer is a portion of my life-history, and I wish to describe all that happened to me truthfully, without glossing over a single incident to my discredit. I thus hope that no boy reading this will, on the strength of my example, be prompted to do evil, with the malicious idea of “paying off a grudge.” I may add that I entirely take all the blame to myself, for, had it not been for me, Tom Larkyns, I am sure, would have had no hand in the matter; and you will see later on, if you proceed with my story, how, through the wonderful workings of Providence, I was almost subjected to the same terrible fate I had been the means of preparing for our schoolmaster; although, fortunately, the evil design I and Tom planned only reverted on our own heads. Our diabolical scheme was more than a thoughtless one. It might, besides, jeopardising the life of Dr Hellyer, have set fire to the house, when, perhaps, many of our schoolfellows might have been burnt to death.The first thing Dr Hellyer always did on entering the refectory when he returned from church was, as we well knew, to walk up to the fireplace, where he would give the bars a thorough raking out with the poker and then heap a large shovelful of coals on from the adjacent scuttle. In this receptacle, Tom and I now carefully placed about a quarter of a pound of gunpowder with some squibs, the latter blackened over like the shining Wallsend knobs, so as to escape detection; and then, such was our fiendish plan, we concealed under the cushion of the Doctor’s armchair a packet of crackers, connected with a long tiny thread of a fuse leading midway under the centre of the broad table, so that it could not be seen or interfered with by the boys’ feet as they sat at dinner, along the floor to the end of the form where we usually sat, near the entrance to the apartment.“I shall manage to light this fuse somehow or other,” Tom said, assuming the control of this infernal machine; and then, after going into the hall to get our caps, giving another look round the room when we came back, to see whether our preparations were noticeable, we awaited Dr Hellyer’s summons to proceed to church—with calm satisfaction at the so far successful issue of our calculations.During our processional walk we were both in high glee at the grand “blowing up” that would happen on our return—a sort of “Roland for an Oliver” in return for the many different sorts of blowings up we had received at Dr Hellyer’s hands at one time and another. I was all the more excited, too, for I had made up my mind to attempt another exploit of which I had not even warned Tom, but which would probably throw his sublime conception into the shade.I had, in my visits to the different coasting craft in the harbour, been presented by a fisherman with a lot of very small fish-hooks. These I had in the morning attached by thin pieces of thread to several fire crackers, which I intended for my own personal satisfaction to present to the Doctor, although in a way he would not relish or dream of.If there was one thing more than another that Dr Hellyer esteemed I think I have already sufficiently pointed out it was his dignity—to the glory of which the archdeacon’s hat he always wore on Sundays eminently contributed; and, as may be believed, he venerated this head-covering accordingly.It was against this hat I contemplated taking especial proceedings now.Being held to be an outlaw to all ordinary discipline, the Doctor, to have me under his own eye, made me walk close behind him in the procession formed for our march to and from church. Tom and some three or four other unruly members were also similarly distinguished; and, as walking two-and-two abreast we made such a long string, that the masters behind could not see what was going on in front, we usually had a good deal of fun in the rear of the Doctor, without, of course, his perceiving it, or the teachers betraying us.Watching my chance, soon after we came out of church on this eventful occasion, I dexterously managed to fasten the fish-hooks with the crackers attached not only to different points of the master’s garments, but also to his hat; and, the scrunching of our feet on the gravel pathway from the village deadening the sound I made in scratching the match I used, I contrived to light the crackers before any one, save the boys immediately alongside of me, perceived what I was doing.Everything favoured me.Presently, whiz—crack—and the Doctor’s coat tails flew up as if by magic, swaying to and fro in the air, although there was no wind; and the fellows, smelling a “rat” as well as the burnt powder, began to titter.“What is that?” said the Doctor, sternly, turning round and confronting us with an even more majestic deportment than usual.Of course, nobody answered; but, the crack, crack, cracking continued, and in another minute, with a bang, off went Dr Hellyer’s hat!Nor was that all. Putting up his hand, with a frantic clutch, to save his headgear from falling into the mire, it being a drizzling, mizzling, dirty November day, our worthy preceptor pulled away what we had always imagined to be a magnificent head of hair, but what turned out now, alas for human fallibility, only to be a wig!This was a discovery with a vengeance; and, as might have been expected, all the boys, as if with one accord, shouted with laughter.Dr Hellyer was speechless with indignation. He was mad with pain as well, for in clutching at his hat he had got one of my fish-hooks deeply imbedded in the palm of his hand—a sort of just retaliation, I thought it, for all he had made me suffer from his cruel “pandies.”He guessed who was the offender at once, as he caught me laughing when he turned round, with the end of the smouldering match still held between my fingers.“Oh—ah! It is you, is it?” he gasped out, giving me a ponderous slap on one side of my face with the big broad hand that was uninjured, which made me reel and tumble down; but a second blow, a backhander on the opposite side of my head, brought me up again, “all standing.” Still, although I felt these gentle taps, I could not help grinning, which, of course, increased his rage, if that were possible.He certainly presented a most comical spectacle, dancing there before us, first on one leg and then on the other, his bulky frame swaying to and fro, like that of an elephant performing a jig, with the crackers exploding every instant, and his bald head surrounded apparently with a halo of smoke like a “nimbus.” The boys fairly shrieked with laughter, and even Smiley and the Cobbler had to turn their heads aside, to hide their irrepressible grins. As for myself, I confess that at the moment of perpetrating the cruel joke, I felt that I wouldn’t have missed the sight for anything. I was really extremely proud of my achievement, although conscious that I should have to pay dearly bye-and-bye for my freak in the way of “pandies” and forced abstention from food; but I little thought of the stern Nemesis at a later period of my life Providence had in store for me.In a little time the crackers had all expended their force; when the Doctor, jamming down the wig and his somewhat crushed and dirty hat over his fuming brows, with a defiant glare at the lot of us, resumed his march homeward—taking the precaution of clutching hold of my arm with a policeman-like grip, as if he were afraid of my giving him the slip before he had pandied the satisfaction he clearly intended to have out of my unhappy body. But he need not have been thus alarmed on the score of any attempted flight on my part, at least then; for I was quite as anxious to reach the school as he was to get me there. Much as I had enjoyed this cracker scene, which I had brought about on my own account, I was longing to see the denouement of the deeply-planned plot, the details of which Tom and I had so carefully arranged before starting for church. My little venture was nothing in comparison with what this would be, I thought.My ambition was soon gratified.Our little contretemps on the way had somewhat delayed dinner, which was already on the table on out arrival; so, without wasting any more time, Dr Hellyer marched us all in before him, still holding on to me until he had reached the top of the refectory, where, ordering me to stand up in front of his armchair, he proceeded as usual to poke the fire and then shovel on coals.Bang!In a second, there was a great glare, and then an explosion, which brought down a quantity of soot from the old-fashioned open chimney, covering me all over and making me look like a young sweep, as I was standing right in front of the fireplace, and came in for the full benefit of it. I was not at all frightened, however, as, of course, I had expected a somewhat similar result as soon as the coals went on.Not so the Doctor, though. With a deep objurgation, he sank back into his armchair, as if completely overcome.This was Tom’s opportunity, and he quickly took advantage of it. Glancing slily down under the table, I could see him in the distance stoop beneath it and apply a match to the end of the fuse, which being a dry one at once ignited, the spluttering flame running along like a streak of lightning along the floor and up the leg of the chair on which Dr Hellyer was sitting—too instantaneously to be detected by any one not specially looking out for it, like myself.Poof—crack—bang, went off another explosion; and up bounced Old Hellyer, as if a catapult had been applied below his seat.You never saw such a commotion as now ensued. Tom and I were the only ones who preserved their composure out of the whole lot in the room, although Dr Hellyer soon showed that, if startled at first, he had not quite lost his senses.He rushed at me at once, quite certain that as I had perpetrated the former attack on his sacred person while on the way from church, I must likewise be guilty of this second attempt to make a Guy Fawkes of him; and, striking out savagely, he felled me with a weighty blow from his great fist, sending me rolling along under the table, and causing me to see many more stars than an active astronomer could count in the same space of time—but I’m sure he had sufficient justification to have treated me even worse!“You young ruffian!” he exclaimed as he knocked me down, his passion getting the better both of his scholastic judgment and academical dignity, and he would probably have proceeded to further extremities had not Tom Larkyns started up.“Oh, please don’t punish Leigh, sir,” I heard him cry out as I lay on the floor, just within reach of the Doctor’s thick club-soled boots, with which I believe he was just going to operate on me in “Lancashire fashion,” as fighting men say. “Please, sir, don’t hurt Leigh—it was I who did it!”At this interruption, which seemed to recall him to himself, the master regained his composure in an instant.“Get up, boy!” he said to me, gruffly, spurning me away with his foot, and then, as soon as I was once more in a perpendicular position, he ordered me, sooty as I was, to go and stand up alongside of Tom.“Brothers in arms, hey?” chuckled our incensed pedagogue, pondering over the most aggravating form of torture which he could administer to us in retaliation for what we had made his person and dignity suffer. “I’ll make you sick of each other’s companionship before I’ve done with you! Stand up there together now, you pair of young desperadoes, while the rest of the boys have dinner, which your diabolical conduct has so long delayed. Mr Smallpage, say grace, please.”“Smiley” thereupon performed the Doctor’s usual function; then the fellows were helped round to roast mutton and Yorkshire pudding—Tom and I, both hungry as usual, you may be sure—having the gratification of smelling without being allowed to taste.This was Dr Hellyer’s very practical first stage of punishment; he always commenced with starving us for any offence against his laws and ordinances, and then wound up his trilogy of penance with a proportionate number of “pandies” and solitary confinement.After dinner the other boys were dismissed, but Tom and I remained still standing there; Dr Hellyer the while seated in his armchair watching us grimly as if taking pleasure in our sufferings, and without uttering a word to either of us.The afternoon progressed, and the fellows came trooping in to tea at six, the old woman first arriving; to lay the cloth and put on the china teapot and tin mugs. We, however, had to pass through the same ordeal as at dinner; there was none for us, for still the Doctor sat there in the armchair by the fire, looking in the dancing gleams of light like some old wizard or magician weaving a charm of spells which was to turn us into stone where we stood, if that process should not be rendered unnecessary by our being frozen beforehand from cramp through remaining so long in the one position.When the bed gong sounded, we heard the boys trooping up-stairs; and then Dr Hellyer rose at last.“Martin Leigh and Thomas Larkyns,” he rolled out in his very deepest voice, making the ceiling of the refectory ring as usual. “I intend to expel you from my school. I shall write to your friends in the morning; and, in the meantime, you will be confined here until they come to remove you!”He then left the room, locking the door behind him, when the single jet of light from one burner went out suddenly with a jump, showing that he had turned the gas off at the main, and that we should not have a cheering beam to illumine our solitary vigil throughout the weary night.A little bit of fire was still flickering in the grate, however, and, by this feeble light Tom and I looked at each other in desperation.We were in a hobble, and no mistake!What was to be done?

“Now, mind,” said Tom, after a pause in our giggling, “we won’t tell any one else about it!”

“No,” I agreed; “it will be all the more fun to keep it to ourselves, and, besides, there will be less chance of our being found out.”

True to our compact, not a word of our conspiracy was breathed to a soul in the school; and the eventful day approached at last, if not “big with the fate of Caesar and of Rome,” pregnant with a plan for astonishing our master, and celebrating the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot in a manner never known before in the traditions of the establishment—although, perhaps, perfectly in keeping with the idea of the original iconoclast, whose memory we intended to do honour to in fitting manner.

When Dr Hellyer awoke to the knowledge of the fact that the Fifth of November fell this year on a Sunday, had he generously made allowance for the patriotic feelings of his pupils, and allowed them to have their usual annual firework demonstration on the Saturday prior, which happened to be a half-holiday, the matter might have been harmoniously arranged, and Tom and I been persuaded at the last moment to abandon our daring enterprise—possibly, that is, though I doubt it much.

But, no. Dr Hellyer grasped the chance afforded him by the fortuitous cycle of dates as a splendid opportunity for putting down what had been a yearlybête noirto him; and so, he rushed madly on to his fate.

After dinner in the refectory, on the third of the month—two days beforehand, so as to give them clear notice of his intentions, in order not be accused of taking them unawares, and causing them to lay out their savings uselessly—just as the boys were going to rush out of the room for their usual hour’s relaxation before afternoon school, he detained them, with a wave of his well-known fat arm and the sound of his rolling accents.

“Boys,” he cried, “wait a moment! I have—ah—determined that—ah—as Guy Fawkes’ day this year—ah—will be next Sunday, when—ah—of course—ah—you will be unable with any regard for the solemn associations—ah—of the—ah—Sabbath, be—ah—able to celebrate it in your usual fashion—ah—that—ah—you must—ah—postpone—ah—your—ah bonfire—ah—till next year.”

A loud murmur ran round the room at this, an expression of popular opinion which I had never heard previously in the school.

The master, however, was equal to the occasion.

“Silence!” he roared out at the pitch of his voice, making the ceiling ring again, dropping his “Ahs” and drowning the sibillation of the malcontents by sheer dint of making a superior amount of noise. “Any boy I catch hissing, or otherwise expressing disapproval of my orders, had better look out, that’s all! There will be no celebration of Guy Fawkes’ day here, do you hear me! No, neither this year, nor next year, nor any year again, so long as I am master of this school! You can disperse now; but, mark my words, any one found letting off a squib or cracker, or discovered to be in the possession of gunpowder, or other explosive compound, will have to render an account to me. Boys, you’re dismissed!”

Bless you, when Dr Hellyer ceased speaking there was a silence that could almost be felt, and we all sneaked out of the room with corresponding quietude—adjourning to the playground as if we were going to attend a funeral instead of going out for diversion!

But, it was a silence that meant mischief, a quietude that was next door to hatching a mutiny; and, when we had got outside, there was a general howl of indignation that the Doctor could not have helped hearing, although the door communicating with the house was closed and he was still in the refectory in front, while we were at the rear of the establishment.

Of course, as was natural at such a crisis, the boys grouped themselves into little coteries, considering what should be done in such an unlooked-for emergency. Even Slodgers, the sneak, pretended to be as angry as anybody, desiring to have revenge for the deprivation of our annual gala show; but Tom and I kept aloof from all, and held our own counsel, much to the disgust of Slodgers, as we could easily see, for the cur wanted to hear what we might suggest so that he could go and report to Dr Hellyer.

We were too wary birds for Slodgers, however; we were not going to be caught, like young pigeons, with his chaff—no, we knew better than that!

We agreed with the mass of our schoolfellows that the Doctor’s arbitrary proclamation was an act of unmitigated tyranny and a “jolly shame;” but, beyond that, Slodgers could get nothing out of us, although we listened cordially to all the others had to say, and regulated our procedure accordingly.

“I vote,” said Batson, one of the big boys like Tom and I were now, “that we buy our fireworks on Saturday, in spite of what Old Growler has declared, and if he does not allow us to let them off in the evening, why we’ll have ‘a grand pyrotechnic display,’ as the newspapers say, at night in the dormitories.”

“Hear, hear!” shouted all the fellows in rapturous enthusiasm at such a bold idea; and even Tom and I wondered whether this plan would not be better than ours. But it was only for a moment. Reflection told us that the Doctor would certainly hear of our doings in time, through Slodgers, to nip the brilliant design in the bud ere it could be matured; so, while the majority of the boys devoted all their spare cash on the Saturday afternoon, when some of us were allowed to go into the town, in the purchase of squibs and crackers, and Roman candles, we declined all share in the enterprise on the plea of having no money—an excuse readily recognised, as the finances of most of the pupils were known to be not in a flourishing condition.

While Batson and his confrères took advantage of the half-holiday to go out to buy these fireworks, Tom and I remained indoors, he on the plea of indisposition and I for the ostensible purpose of writing out an imposition; but we both utilised the time thus afforded us by artfully removing the store of combustibles we had already secreted in our lockers, bringing them down-stairs, and placing them for safety and concealment in the cellar below, where our boxes were kept.

It was a timely precaution.

Slodgers had evidently played the sneak as usual, although keeping up the semblance all the while of being one of the prime movers in the pyrotechnic display suggested by Batson. Indeed, he went so far as to buy and bring home a shilling’s-worth of detonating powder to aid the contemplatedfeu de joie; but, no sooner had the boys got in and gone up-stairs to arrange their clothes for Sunday, as was our custom before tea-time every Saturday afternoon, than Dr Hellyer, accompanied by Smiley and the Cobbler, and the old woman, who had the keenest eye of the lot for the detection of contraband stores, came round to the dormitories on an exploring and searching expedition. There was a grandexposéof the conspiracy, of course, at once; for, the contents of all the lockers were turned out and the newly-purchased fireworks confiscated to the last cracker!

“Ah—you can’t deceive me!” exclaimed the Doctor, as he departed triumphantly, his arms and those of his assistants loaded with the spoils of their raid, “I told you I would not have any fireworks in my school this year, and shall keep my word, as you see! You have only to thank yourselves—ah—for wasting your money! But, for disobeying my orders the boys will all stop in next week on both half-holidays;” and, so concluding his parting address, with a triumphant grin on his huge round face, he went out, leaving the baffled conspirators in agonies of rage, swearing vengeance against the unknown spy who had betrayed their preparations.

Tom and I were jubilant, however. Nothing could have worked better for the end we had in view; as, after this failure of Batson, the surprise we intended for the Doctor would be all the more unexpected and correspondingly successful.

It was a sad night, though, for the other fellows.

When Sunday morning came, the boys got up grumbling, moody, defiant, and almost inclined to weep over their frustrated efforts; while Tom and I were so jolly that we could have sung aloud.

We always breakfasted later on this day of the week, and after the meal was done generally lounged about the room while the old woman was clearing up, waiting till it was time for us to assemble for what we styled our “church parade;” but, this morning, the boys seemed out of sorts, and went back again up-stairs after they had finished, leaving only Tom and myself in the refectory, while the old woman was removing the breakfast things and putting on a clean table-cloth for dinner. She quitted the apartment as soon as she had swept up the fireplace, placing enough coal on the fire to last till the afternoon, and otherwise completing her arrangements—then going down to the kitchen, from which we knew she would not emerge until we came back from church again, when it would be time to sound the gong for dinner—which meal was also an hour later on Sundays than on week days; and, being generally of a more sumptuous description, it required extra cooking.

This was the opportunity Tom and I had waited for all along, in pursuance of our plan; so, long ere the old woman had reached her sanctum below, we were at work, having taken advantage of the time we were washing in the lavatory before breakfast to put our fireworks and combustible matter in our pockets, whence we now quickly proceeded to extract the explosive agents, and deposit them in certain fixed positions we had arranged beforehand after much consultation.

Now, what I am going to relate I would much rather not tell about, as it concerns what I consider a very shameful episode in my life. The only thing I can urge in extenuation of my conduct is the lax manner in which my earlier life was looked after in my uncle’s house, where my worse passions were allowed full play, without that judicious control which parental guidance would perhaps have exercised on my inherent disposition for giving vent to temper, with no thought whatever of the consequences of any hare-brained act I might commit. I narrate, therefore, the circumstances that led to my running away from school, merely because my mad and wicked attempt to injure Dr Hellyer is a portion of my life-history, and I wish to describe all that happened to me truthfully, without glossing over a single incident to my discredit. I thus hope that no boy reading this will, on the strength of my example, be prompted to do evil, with the malicious idea of “paying off a grudge.” I may add that I entirely take all the blame to myself, for, had it not been for me, Tom Larkyns, I am sure, would have had no hand in the matter; and you will see later on, if you proceed with my story, how, through the wonderful workings of Providence, I was almost subjected to the same terrible fate I had been the means of preparing for our schoolmaster; although, fortunately, the evil design I and Tom planned only reverted on our own heads. Our diabolical scheme was more than a thoughtless one. It might, besides, jeopardising the life of Dr Hellyer, have set fire to the house, when, perhaps, many of our schoolfellows might have been burnt to death.

The first thing Dr Hellyer always did on entering the refectory when he returned from church was, as we well knew, to walk up to the fireplace, where he would give the bars a thorough raking out with the poker and then heap a large shovelful of coals on from the adjacent scuttle. In this receptacle, Tom and I now carefully placed about a quarter of a pound of gunpowder with some squibs, the latter blackened over like the shining Wallsend knobs, so as to escape detection; and then, such was our fiendish plan, we concealed under the cushion of the Doctor’s armchair a packet of crackers, connected with a long tiny thread of a fuse leading midway under the centre of the broad table, so that it could not be seen or interfered with by the boys’ feet as they sat at dinner, along the floor to the end of the form where we usually sat, near the entrance to the apartment.

“I shall manage to light this fuse somehow or other,” Tom said, assuming the control of this infernal machine; and then, after going into the hall to get our caps, giving another look round the room when we came back, to see whether our preparations were noticeable, we awaited Dr Hellyer’s summons to proceed to church—with calm satisfaction at the so far successful issue of our calculations.

During our processional walk we were both in high glee at the grand “blowing up” that would happen on our return—a sort of “Roland for an Oliver” in return for the many different sorts of blowings up we had received at Dr Hellyer’s hands at one time and another. I was all the more excited, too, for I had made up my mind to attempt another exploit of which I had not even warned Tom, but which would probably throw his sublime conception into the shade.

I had, in my visits to the different coasting craft in the harbour, been presented by a fisherman with a lot of very small fish-hooks. These I had in the morning attached by thin pieces of thread to several fire crackers, which I intended for my own personal satisfaction to present to the Doctor, although in a way he would not relish or dream of.

If there was one thing more than another that Dr Hellyer esteemed I think I have already sufficiently pointed out it was his dignity—to the glory of which the archdeacon’s hat he always wore on Sundays eminently contributed; and, as may be believed, he venerated this head-covering accordingly.

It was against this hat I contemplated taking especial proceedings now.

Being held to be an outlaw to all ordinary discipline, the Doctor, to have me under his own eye, made me walk close behind him in the procession formed for our march to and from church. Tom and some three or four other unruly members were also similarly distinguished; and, as walking two-and-two abreast we made such a long string, that the masters behind could not see what was going on in front, we usually had a good deal of fun in the rear of the Doctor, without, of course, his perceiving it, or the teachers betraying us.

Watching my chance, soon after we came out of church on this eventful occasion, I dexterously managed to fasten the fish-hooks with the crackers attached not only to different points of the master’s garments, but also to his hat; and, the scrunching of our feet on the gravel pathway from the village deadening the sound I made in scratching the match I used, I contrived to light the crackers before any one, save the boys immediately alongside of me, perceived what I was doing.

Everything favoured me.

Presently, whiz—crack—and the Doctor’s coat tails flew up as if by magic, swaying to and fro in the air, although there was no wind; and the fellows, smelling a “rat” as well as the burnt powder, began to titter.

“What is that?” said the Doctor, sternly, turning round and confronting us with an even more majestic deportment than usual.

Of course, nobody answered; but, the crack, crack, cracking continued, and in another minute, with a bang, off went Dr Hellyer’s hat!

Nor was that all. Putting up his hand, with a frantic clutch, to save his headgear from falling into the mire, it being a drizzling, mizzling, dirty November day, our worthy preceptor pulled away what we had always imagined to be a magnificent head of hair, but what turned out now, alas for human fallibility, only to be a wig!

This was a discovery with a vengeance; and, as might have been expected, all the boys, as if with one accord, shouted with laughter.

Dr Hellyer was speechless with indignation. He was mad with pain as well, for in clutching at his hat he had got one of my fish-hooks deeply imbedded in the palm of his hand—a sort of just retaliation, I thought it, for all he had made me suffer from his cruel “pandies.”

He guessed who was the offender at once, as he caught me laughing when he turned round, with the end of the smouldering match still held between my fingers.

“Oh—ah! It is you, is it?” he gasped out, giving me a ponderous slap on one side of my face with the big broad hand that was uninjured, which made me reel and tumble down; but a second blow, a backhander on the opposite side of my head, brought me up again, “all standing.” Still, although I felt these gentle taps, I could not help grinning, which, of course, increased his rage, if that were possible.

He certainly presented a most comical spectacle, dancing there before us, first on one leg and then on the other, his bulky frame swaying to and fro, like that of an elephant performing a jig, with the crackers exploding every instant, and his bald head surrounded apparently with a halo of smoke like a “nimbus.” The boys fairly shrieked with laughter, and even Smiley and the Cobbler had to turn their heads aside, to hide their irrepressible grins. As for myself, I confess that at the moment of perpetrating the cruel joke, I felt that I wouldn’t have missed the sight for anything. I was really extremely proud of my achievement, although conscious that I should have to pay dearly bye-and-bye for my freak in the way of “pandies” and forced abstention from food; but I little thought of the stern Nemesis at a later period of my life Providence had in store for me.

In a little time the crackers had all expended their force; when the Doctor, jamming down the wig and his somewhat crushed and dirty hat over his fuming brows, with a defiant glare at the lot of us, resumed his march homeward—taking the precaution of clutching hold of my arm with a policeman-like grip, as if he were afraid of my giving him the slip before he had pandied the satisfaction he clearly intended to have out of my unhappy body. But he need not have been thus alarmed on the score of any attempted flight on my part, at least then; for I was quite as anxious to reach the school as he was to get me there. Much as I had enjoyed this cracker scene, which I had brought about on my own account, I was longing to see the denouement of the deeply-planned plot, the details of which Tom and I had so carefully arranged before starting for church. My little venture was nothing in comparison with what this would be, I thought.

My ambition was soon gratified.

Our little contretemps on the way had somewhat delayed dinner, which was already on the table on out arrival; so, without wasting any more time, Dr Hellyer marched us all in before him, still holding on to me until he had reached the top of the refectory, where, ordering me to stand up in front of his armchair, he proceeded as usual to poke the fire and then shovel on coals.

Bang!

In a second, there was a great glare, and then an explosion, which brought down a quantity of soot from the old-fashioned open chimney, covering me all over and making me look like a young sweep, as I was standing right in front of the fireplace, and came in for the full benefit of it. I was not at all frightened, however, as, of course, I had expected a somewhat similar result as soon as the coals went on.

Not so the Doctor, though. With a deep objurgation, he sank back into his armchair, as if completely overcome.

This was Tom’s opportunity, and he quickly took advantage of it. Glancing slily down under the table, I could see him in the distance stoop beneath it and apply a match to the end of the fuse, which being a dry one at once ignited, the spluttering flame running along like a streak of lightning along the floor and up the leg of the chair on which Dr Hellyer was sitting—too instantaneously to be detected by any one not specially looking out for it, like myself.

Poof—crack—bang, went off another explosion; and up bounced Old Hellyer, as if a catapult had been applied below his seat.

You never saw such a commotion as now ensued. Tom and I were the only ones who preserved their composure out of the whole lot in the room, although Dr Hellyer soon showed that, if startled at first, he had not quite lost his senses.

He rushed at me at once, quite certain that as I had perpetrated the former attack on his sacred person while on the way from church, I must likewise be guilty of this second attempt to make a Guy Fawkes of him; and, striking out savagely, he felled me with a weighty blow from his great fist, sending me rolling along under the table, and causing me to see many more stars than an active astronomer could count in the same space of time—but I’m sure he had sufficient justification to have treated me even worse!

“You young ruffian!” he exclaimed as he knocked me down, his passion getting the better both of his scholastic judgment and academical dignity, and he would probably have proceeded to further extremities had not Tom Larkyns started up.

“Oh, please don’t punish Leigh, sir,” I heard him cry out as I lay on the floor, just within reach of the Doctor’s thick club-soled boots, with which I believe he was just going to operate on me in “Lancashire fashion,” as fighting men say. “Please, sir, don’t hurt Leigh—it was I who did it!”

At this interruption, which seemed to recall him to himself, the master regained his composure in an instant.

“Get up, boy!” he said to me, gruffly, spurning me away with his foot, and then, as soon as I was once more in a perpendicular position, he ordered me, sooty as I was, to go and stand up alongside of Tom.

“Brothers in arms, hey?” chuckled our incensed pedagogue, pondering over the most aggravating form of torture which he could administer to us in retaliation for what we had made his person and dignity suffer. “I’ll make you sick of each other’s companionship before I’ve done with you! Stand up there together now, you pair of young desperadoes, while the rest of the boys have dinner, which your diabolical conduct has so long delayed. Mr Smallpage, say grace, please.”

“Smiley” thereupon performed the Doctor’s usual function; then the fellows were helped round to roast mutton and Yorkshire pudding—Tom and I, both hungry as usual, you may be sure—having the gratification of smelling without being allowed to taste.

This was Dr Hellyer’s very practical first stage of punishment; he always commenced with starving us for any offence against his laws and ordinances, and then wound up his trilogy of penance with a proportionate number of “pandies” and solitary confinement.

After dinner the other boys were dismissed, but Tom and I remained still standing there; Dr Hellyer the while seated in his armchair watching us grimly as if taking pleasure in our sufferings, and without uttering a word to either of us.

The afternoon progressed, and the fellows came trooping in to tea at six, the old woman first arriving; to lay the cloth and put on the china teapot and tin mugs. We, however, had to pass through the same ordeal as at dinner; there was none for us, for still the Doctor sat there in the armchair by the fire, looking in the dancing gleams of light like some old wizard or magician weaving a charm of spells which was to turn us into stone where we stood, if that process should not be rendered unnecessary by our being frozen beforehand from cramp through remaining so long in the one position.

When the bed gong sounded, we heard the boys trooping up-stairs; and then Dr Hellyer rose at last.

“Martin Leigh and Thomas Larkyns,” he rolled out in his very deepest voice, making the ceiling of the refectory ring as usual. “I intend to expel you from my school. I shall write to your friends in the morning; and, in the meantime, you will be confined here until they come to remove you!”

He then left the room, locking the door behind him, when the single jet of light from one burner went out suddenly with a jump, showing that he had turned the gas off at the main, and that we should not have a cheering beam to illumine our solitary vigil throughout the weary night.

A little bit of fire was still flickering in the grate, however, and, by this feeble light Tom and I looked at each other in desperation.

We were in a hobble, and no mistake!

What was to be done?

Chapter Seven.Catching a Tartar.“Well, this is a nice mess we’re in!” said Tom, after a moment’s pause, during which we stared blankly at each other in front of the fire, which we had approached as soon as our janitor had departed. My chum seated himself comfortably in the Doctor’s armchair, which he drew near the hearth, putting his feet on the fender so as to warm his chilled toes; but I remained standing beside him, leaning against the chimney-piece.“Yes,” I replied, disconsolately. “It’s too bad though; I say, old fellow, I’m awfully hungry!”“So am I,” said Tom, “but I don’t suppose we’ll be able to get anything whatever to eat before morning—if the Doctor lets us have breakfast then!”“Oh, bother him!” I exclaimed; “I’m not going to starve.”“Why, what can we do, Martin? I don’t think you’ll find any grub here. The old woman swept away every crumb, even from the floor, after tea; I was watching her like a dog after a bone.”“What are we to do, eh?” I repeated, cheerfully, my spirits rising to the occasion; “why, get away from this as soon as we can!”“Run away?” ejaculated Tom in astonishment.I nodded my head in the affirmative.“But how can we get out?”“I’ll soon show you,” I said, complacently. “I thought we’d be placed in a fix after our lark, and I made my preparations accordingly.”“By Jove, Martin, you’re a wonderful fellow!” cried Tom, as I then proceeded to peel off my jacket and waistcoat, unwinding some twenty feet of thick cord, which I had procured from my sailor friends in the harbour and had been carrying about me all day, rolled round my body over my shirt, so as not to lacerate my skin—fearing all the while that the podgy appearance which its bulk gave to me would be noticed, although fortunately it had escaped comment.“We’ll get down from the balcony outside the window by the aid of this,” I explained, as soon as I had got rid of the rope from about my person, coiling it up handily, first knotting it at intervals, so that we could descend gradually, without hurting our hands, already sore from “pandies.”“And, once outside the house, why, we’ll make off for the harbour, where I’ve no doubt my friends on board the coal brig, which was lying alongside the quay last Wednesday, when I was down there, will take us in, and make us comfortable.”“My!” exclaimed Tom, “why, you’re a regular brick, Martin. One would think you had planned it out all beforehand!”“Just precisely what I did,” I replied, chuckling at having kept my secret. “I have determined ever since last summer to run away to sea at the first opportunity I got; and when you suggested our blowing up Dr Hellyer, and making a regular Guy Fawkes of him, I, thought it would be too warm for us here afterwards, and that then would be the time to bolt. There is no use in our remaining now, to be starved first and expelled afterwards—with probably any number of ‘pandies’ given us to-morrow in addition.”“No,” said Tom, agreeing with this pretty correct estimate of our present position and future prospects. “Dr Hellyer will whack that ruler of his into us in the morning, without fail—I could see it in his eye as he went out of the room, as well as from that grin he put on when he spoke. I dare say, besides, we won’t be allowed a morsel to eat all day; we shall be kept here to watch the other fellows feeding—it’s a brutal way of paying a chap out, isn’t it?”“Well, I’m not going to put up with it, for one,” said I, decisively. “You know, Tom, as soon as my uncle hears of my being expelled, prompted by Aunt Matilda, he will seize the chance of doing what he has long threatened, and ‘wash his hands of me,’ and then, why I will be in only just the same plight as if I take French leave of Dr Hellyer now!”“My mother, though, will be grieved when she hears of this,” put in Tom, as if hesitating what he should do.“Nonsense, Tom,” I replied—still exercising the influence I possessed over my chum for evil!—“I am certain that if she knew that the Doctor had treated you as he has done, starving you and keeping you here all night in the cold out of your bed, she wouldn’t mind a bit your running away from the school along with me; especially when I’m going to take you where you’ll get food and shelter.”This argument decided Tom at once. “All right,” said he, in the usual jolly way in which he and I settled all our little differences. “I’ll come, Martin. But it is getting late. Don’t you think, too, we’d better look alive and start as soon as we can?”“I was waiting till we heard the Doctor snoring,” I replied. “Go and listen at the door; his room, you know, is on the other side of the landing, and you’ll be able to tell in a minute whether he is asleep or not.”Tom did as I requested, stealing noiselessly across the room for the purpose, returning quickly with the news that our worthy preceptor was fast in the arms of Morpheus, judging by the stentorian sound of his deep breathing. Dr Hellyer had made a hearty dinner, in spite of our having upset his equanimity so unexpectedly. He had likewise disposed of an equally hearty tea; so he was now sleeping soundly—his peaceful slumbers doubtless soothed with sweet dreams in reference to the punishment he intended inflicting on us on the morrow, not thinking for a moment, unhappy dreamer, that the poor birds whom he had, as he imagined, effectually snared and purposed plucking, would by that time, if all went well with our plans, have flown far beyond reach of his nervous arm!The master asleep, we had no fear of interruption from any one else, for the old woman took her repose in the back kitchen, out of earshot of anything happening in the front of the house, and Smiley and the Cobbler were probably snoring away as composedly as their chief in the dormitories above, of which they were in charge; so, Tom and I at once began operations for effecting our “strategic retreat” from the establishment.The windows of the refectory opened on to a narrow balcony that ran along the front of the house; and these, having heavy wooden shutters, fastened by horizontal iron bars, latching into a catch, we had some little difficulty in opening the one we fixed on for making our exit by, the bar securing it being some height from the floor and quite beyond our reach.However, as Tom magniloquently quoted, difficulties were only made for brave men—or boys—to surmount. By lifting one of the forms as quietly as we could close to the window, and standing on this, the two of us managed to raise the iron bar from the catch and let it swing down, although the hinges made a terrible creaking noise in the operation, which we thought would waken Dr Hellyer up. However, on going to the door to listen again, we heard him still snoring, so we then proceeded to unfasten the window, letting in the cold night air, that made us shiver as it blew into the room from the sea.It was quite dark when we got outside into the balcony, although we could see a star or two faintly glimmering overhead; while away to the westward, across the common, the red light at the pier-head marking the entrance to the harbour was visible.Like most watering-places in the “dead season,” everybody went to bed early in the terrace; so that, although it could have been barely ten o’clock, not a light was to be seen from the windows of the neighbouring houses.“Just the night for a burglary!” said Tom with a snigger, on our cautiously looking round us to see if the coast was clear.“Yes,” I chimed in, joyously, “only, we are going to burgle out, instead of breaking in;” and we then both had a hearty chuckle at this little joke.Still, no time was to be lost, now that we had got so far. The next thing, therefore, to do, was to descend the balcony; and, here, my happily-thought-of rope ladder came in handily to deliver us from durance vile.Knotting it securely to the top rail of the balustrade, I gave it a strong tug or two to test its strength, making the balcony shake and tremble with the strain.“Do you think it will bear our weight?” asked Tom, anxiously, noticing me do this and feeling the vibratory movement.“Bear our weight, you shrimp,” I rejoined, “why, it would hold forty of us, and Dr Hellyer too!”At this we both sniggered again, suppressing our merriment, however, for fear of being overheard; and then, drawing-to the shutter inside as close as I could, so that it should not show too plainly the fact of its being unbarred, and closing the window itself, which was a much easier task, we prepared to slide down to the pavement below.“I had better go first,” I said to Tom, “I’m the heaviest; so, if I reach the ground all right, there’ll be no fear of the rope giving way with you.”Tom argued the point, considering that the question was one of honour, like that of leading a forlorn hope; but, on my saying that I had planned the enterprise and thereby was entitled by right to be the first to venture down, quite apart from the fact of my supplying the rope, he yielded gracefully. Thereupon, without any more fuss, I got over the railings of the balcony, and holding on tightly to the frail cord with both hands, letting my legs drop, and then obtaining a grip below with my ankles, I allowed myself to slide down below, checking the rapidity of my descent by the knots I had previously placed there, a foot or so apart, for this especial purpose.I swayed round a bit, but the rope held firmly; and in a few seconds I was standing on the steps below, waiting for Tom to join me.He came down much easier than I did, from the fact of my holding the other end of our improvised ladder, thus preventing it from twirling him about in the same way as it had treated me, causing me almost to feel giddy.As soon as he stood beside me I coiled up the end of the cord, flinging it back with a dexterous heave, in the way my sailor friend had taught me, over the balcony again, so that the end of it might not be seen hanging down, and so betray us too soon should any passer-by notice it.“Come on, Tom,” I then said, “a long good-bye to the Doctor’s, my boy, the blessed place shall never see me again, if I can help it! Let us make for the quay now, and get on board the brig if we can—that is, unless it be too late, in which case we must hide somewhere till the morning.”“All right,” he replied; and the two of us at once started off at a jog-trot up the terrace and along the road that led into the town.We were successful so far, but we were almost captured on the threshold of victory through an unforeseen contingency; for, just as we turned round the corner of the terrace by the country inn, or “hotel,” which I had noticed on my way from the station when I first arrived at the place with Grimes, the cantankerous old railway porter escorting me to the school, who should we meet point-blank but that identical worthy!He was evidently going home to bed having just been turned out of the inn, which was shutting up for the night. He had, apparently, spent a most enjoyable evening, for he seemed in good spirits—or, rather, perhaps had a pretty good amount of spirits or beer in him—as he reeled somewhat in his gait, and, although it was Sunday, was trying in his cracked falsetto voice to chant a Bacchanalian ditty assertive of the fact that he wouldn’t “go home till morning!”But, in despite of being tipsy, he recognised us both instantly. He was in the habit of coming constantly to and from the station to Dr Hellyer’s with parcels, and was, besides, frequently employed by the Doctor in odd jobs about the house, consequently he was perfectly familiar with our faces—especially mine, which he had never forgotten since that little altercation I had with him on my first introduction. I believe the old fellow bore me a grudge for having spoken to him so peremptorily on that occasion, which even my present of sixpence had not been able to obliterate.He saw us now without doubt, as we passed by hurriedly, close to one of the street lamps which shone down full upon us; and, alert in a moment, he hailed us at once.“Hullo, you young vaggybones,” he screeched out with a hiccup; “where be ye off ter now, hey?”We made no answer to this, only quickening our pace; and he staggered after us waveringly, wheezing out in broken accents, “I knows you, Master Bantam, I does, and you Tom Larkyns; and I’ll tell the Doctor, I will, sure—sure—sure-ly.”But, unawed by this threat, we still went on at our jog-trot until we were well out of his sight, when, retracing our steps again, we watched at a safe distance to see what he would do. We were soon relieved, however, from any anxiety of his giving the alarm, for, although he attempted to take the turning leading down to the school, his legs, which had only been educated up to the point of taking him home and nowhere else after leaving the inn, must have refused to convey him in this new direction, for we could see him presently clinging to the lamp-post that had betrayed us, having a parley with the mutinous members—the upshot being that he abandoned any design he might have formed of going there and then to Dr Hellyer, postponing his statement as to what he had seen of us, as we could make out from his muttered speech, “till marn-ing,” and mingling his determination with the refrain of the ditty he had been previously warbling.This was a lucky ending to what might otherwise have been a sad mischance, if Dr Hellyer had been at once made acquainted with our flight; so, devoutly thankful for our escape, we resumed our onward jog-trot towards the quay, which we reached safely shortly afterwards, without further incident or accident by the way.After being out in the open air a little while, the evening did not seem nearly so dark as we had thought when first peering out from the window of the refectory before making our final exit from the school. Our eyes, probably, became more accustomed to the half-light; but whether or no this was the case, we managed to get down to the harbour as comfortably as if going there in broad day.The brig which I had been on board of on many previous occasions, theSaucy Sall, of South Shields, was lying alongside the jetty in her old berth, with a plank leading up to the gangway; and, seeing a light in the fo’c’s’le, I mounted up to her deck, telling Tom to follow me, making my way forwards towards the glimmer.All the hands were ashore, carousing with their friends, with the exception of one man, who was reading a scrap of newspaper by the light of a sputtering dip candle stuck into a ship’s lantern. He looked rather surprised at receiving a visit from me at such a time of night; but, on my telling him the circumstances of our case, he made us both welcome. Not only this, he brought out some scraps of bread and meat which he had stored up in a mess-tin, most likely for his breakfast, urging on us to “fire away,” as we were heartily free to it, and regretting that was all he had with which to satisfy our hunger.This man’s name was Jorrocks, and he was the first seafaring acquaintance I had made when I had timidly crept down to the quay two years before during the summer vacation; thus, we were now old friends, so to speak. He told us, after we had polished the mess-tin clean, that the brig was going to sail in the morning, for Newcastle, with the tide, which would “make,” he thought, soon after sunrise.“Why, that’ll be the very thing for us,” I exclaimed. “Nothing can be better!”But Jorrocks shook his head.“I don’t know how the skipper’d like it,” he said doubtingly.“Oh, bother him,” interposed Tom; “can’t you hide us somewhere till the vessel gets out to sea; and then, he’ll have to put up with our presence whether he likes it or not?”“What, hide you down below, my kiddies!” said the man, laughing. “Why, he’ll larrup the life out of you with a rope’s-end when he finds you aboard. I tell you what, he a’most murdered the last stowaway we had coming out of Shields two years ago!”“Never mind that,” I put in here; “we’ll have to grin and bear it, and take monkey’s allowance if he cuts up rough. All we want to do now is to get away from here; for, no matter how your captain may treat us, Dr Hellyer would serve us out worse if he caught us again! Do help us, Jorrocks, like a good fellow! Stow us away in the hold, or somewhere, until we are out of port.”Our united entreaties at last prevailed, Jorrocks consenting finally to conceal us on board the brig, although not until after much persuasion.“Mind, though, you ain’t going to split on who helped yer?” he provisoed.“No, Jorrocks, we pledge our words to that,” Tom and I chorused.“Then, come along o’ me,” the good-natured salt said, and lifting the scuttle communicating with the hold forwards, he told us to get down into the forepeak, showing us how to swing by our hands from the coaming round the hole in the deck, as there was no ladder-way.“There, you stow yourselves well forrud,” he enjoined, as soon as we had descended, chucking down a spare tarpaulin and some pieces of canvas after us to make ourselves comfortable with. “Lie quiet, mind,” he added as a parting injunction, “the rest of the hands and the skipper will be soon aboard, and it’ll be all up if they finds you out afore we start.”“All right, we’ll be as still as if we’re dead,” I said.“Then, belay there,” replied Jorrocks, shouting out kindly, as he replaced the hatch cover, which stopped up the entrance to our hiding place so effectually that the interior became as dark as Erebus. “Good, night, lads, and good fortune! I’ll try and smuggle you down some breakfast in the mornin’.”“Thank you; good night!” we shouted in return, although we doubted whether he could hear us now the scuttle was on.Thus left to ourselves, we scraped together, by feeling, as we could not see, the materials Jorrocks had supplied us with for a bed, on which we flung ourselves with much satisfaction, thoroughly tired out on account of the Doctor’s having kept us standing up all day, in addition to the exertions we had since made in making our escape from school.The novelty of our new situation, combined with its strange surroundings, kept us awake for a little time, but we were too much fatigued both in body and mind for our eyelids to remain long open; and soon, in spite of our daring escapade and the fact that the unknown future was a world of mystery before us, we were as snugly asleep as if in our beds in the dormitory at Dr Hellyer’s—albeit we were down in the hold of a dirty coal brig, with our lullaby sung by the incoming tide, which was by this time nearly on the turn, washing and splashing by the bows of the vessel lying alongside the projecting jetty, in its way up the estuary of the river that composed the little harbour.How long we had been in the land of dreams, and whether it was morning, mid-day, or night, we knew not, for a thick impenetrable darkness still filled the forehold where we were stowed; but, Tom and myself awoke to the joyful certainty that we were at sea, or must be so—not only from the motion of the brig, as she plunged up and down, with an occasional heavy roll to port or starboard; but from the noise, also, that the waves made, banging against her bow timbers, as if trying to beat them in, and the trampling of the crew above on the deck over our heads.We listened to these sounds for hours, unable to see anything and having nought else to distract our attention, until Tom, becoming somewhat affected by the smell of the bilge water in the hold as well as by the unaccustomed rocking movement of the brig, began to feel sea-sick and fretful.“I declare this is worse than the Doctor’s,” he complained.“We’ll soon be let out,” I said, “and then you’ll feel better.”But, the friendly Jorrocks did not appear; and, at length, wearied out at last by our vain watching, we both sank off to sleep again on our uneasy couch.After a time we woke up again. There was a noise as if the hatchway was being raised, and then the welcome gleam of a lantern appeared above the orifice.It was Jorrocks come to relieve us, we thought; and so we both started up instantly.The hour for our deliverance had not yet arrived, however.“Steady!” cried our friend. “We’re just off Beachy Head, and you must lie where you are till mornin’; but, as you must be famished by now, I’ve brought you a bit of grub to keep your pecker up. Show a hand, Master Martin!”I thereupon stretched out upwards, and Jorrocks, reaching downwards, placed in my grip our old acquaintance of the previous night, the mess-tin, filled with pieces of beef and potatoes mixed up together, after which he shoved on the hatchway cover again, as if somebody had suddenly interrupted him.I made a hearty meal, although Tom felt too qualmish to eat much, and then we both lay down with the assurance that our troubles would probably soon be over.I suppose we went to sleep again, for it seemed but a very brief interval, when, awaking with a start, I perceived the hatchway open.“Rouse up, Tom,” said I, shaking him; “we’d better climb on deck at once.”“All right,” replied Tom, jumping up, and he was soon on the fo’c’s’le, with me after him.“Who the mother’s son are you?” a gruff voice exclaimed; and, looking round, I saw the skipper of the brig advancing from aft, brandishing a handspike.I immediately stepped forwards in front of Tom.“We’ve run away to sea, sir,” I explained.“So I see,” said the skipper, drawing nearer; “but, what right have you to come aboard my craft?”“We couldn’t help it, sir,” I answered, civilly, wishing to propitiate him. “It was our only chance.”“Oh, then you’ll find it a poor one, youngster,” said he grimly. “Boatswain!”“Aye, aye, sir!” responded Jorrocks, stepping up.“Do you know these boys?”“I’ve seen ’em at Beachampton,” said our friend.“You don’t know how they came aboard, eh?”“No, I can’t say as how I can say, ’zactly, cap’en.”“Well, then tie ’em up to the windlass and fetch me a rope’s-end. Now, my jokers,” added he, turning to us, “I’ve sworn to larrup every stowaway I ever finds in my brig, and I’m a going to larrup you now!”

“Well, this is a nice mess we’re in!” said Tom, after a moment’s pause, during which we stared blankly at each other in front of the fire, which we had approached as soon as our janitor had departed. My chum seated himself comfortably in the Doctor’s armchair, which he drew near the hearth, putting his feet on the fender so as to warm his chilled toes; but I remained standing beside him, leaning against the chimney-piece.

“Yes,” I replied, disconsolately. “It’s too bad though; I say, old fellow, I’m awfully hungry!”

“So am I,” said Tom, “but I don’t suppose we’ll be able to get anything whatever to eat before morning—if the Doctor lets us have breakfast then!”

“Oh, bother him!” I exclaimed; “I’m not going to starve.”

“Why, what can we do, Martin? I don’t think you’ll find any grub here. The old woman swept away every crumb, even from the floor, after tea; I was watching her like a dog after a bone.”

“What are we to do, eh?” I repeated, cheerfully, my spirits rising to the occasion; “why, get away from this as soon as we can!”

“Run away?” ejaculated Tom in astonishment.

I nodded my head in the affirmative.

“But how can we get out?”

“I’ll soon show you,” I said, complacently. “I thought we’d be placed in a fix after our lark, and I made my preparations accordingly.”

“By Jove, Martin, you’re a wonderful fellow!” cried Tom, as I then proceeded to peel off my jacket and waistcoat, unwinding some twenty feet of thick cord, which I had procured from my sailor friends in the harbour and had been carrying about me all day, rolled round my body over my shirt, so as not to lacerate my skin—fearing all the while that the podgy appearance which its bulk gave to me would be noticed, although fortunately it had escaped comment.

“We’ll get down from the balcony outside the window by the aid of this,” I explained, as soon as I had got rid of the rope from about my person, coiling it up handily, first knotting it at intervals, so that we could descend gradually, without hurting our hands, already sore from “pandies.”

“And, once outside the house, why, we’ll make off for the harbour, where I’ve no doubt my friends on board the coal brig, which was lying alongside the quay last Wednesday, when I was down there, will take us in, and make us comfortable.”

“My!” exclaimed Tom, “why, you’re a regular brick, Martin. One would think you had planned it out all beforehand!”

“Just precisely what I did,” I replied, chuckling at having kept my secret. “I have determined ever since last summer to run away to sea at the first opportunity I got; and when you suggested our blowing up Dr Hellyer, and making a regular Guy Fawkes of him, I, thought it would be too warm for us here afterwards, and that then would be the time to bolt. There is no use in our remaining now, to be starved first and expelled afterwards—with probably any number of ‘pandies’ given us to-morrow in addition.”

“No,” said Tom, agreeing with this pretty correct estimate of our present position and future prospects. “Dr Hellyer will whack that ruler of his into us in the morning, without fail—I could see it in his eye as he went out of the room, as well as from that grin he put on when he spoke. I dare say, besides, we won’t be allowed a morsel to eat all day; we shall be kept here to watch the other fellows feeding—it’s a brutal way of paying a chap out, isn’t it?”

“Well, I’m not going to put up with it, for one,” said I, decisively. “You know, Tom, as soon as my uncle hears of my being expelled, prompted by Aunt Matilda, he will seize the chance of doing what he has long threatened, and ‘wash his hands of me,’ and then, why I will be in only just the same plight as if I take French leave of Dr Hellyer now!”

“My mother, though, will be grieved when she hears of this,” put in Tom, as if hesitating what he should do.

“Nonsense, Tom,” I replied—still exercising the influence I possessed over my chum for evil!—“I am certain that if she knew that the Doctor had treated you as he has done, starving you and keeping you here all night in the cold out of your bed, she wouldn’t mind a bit your running away from the school along with me; especially when I’m going to take you where you’ll get food and shelter.”

This argument decided Tom at once. “All right,” said he, in the usual jolly way in which he and I settled all our little differences. “I’ll come, Martin. But it is getting late. Don’t you think, too, we’d better look alive and start as soon as we can?”

“I was waiting till we heard the Doctor snoring,” I replied. “Go and listen at the door; his room, you know, is on the other side of the landing, and you’ll be able to tell in a minute whether he is asleep or not.”

Tom did as I requested, stealing noiselessly across the room for the purpose, returning quickly with the news that our worthy preceptor was fast in the arms of Morpheus, judging by the stentorian sound of his deep breathing. Dr Hellyer had made a hearty dinner, in spite of our having upset his equanimity so unexpectedly. He had likewise disposed of an equally hearty tea; so he was now sleeping soundly—his peaceful slumbers doubtless soothed with sweet dreams in reference to the punishment he intended inflicting on us on the morrow, not thinking for a moment, unhappy dreamer, that the poor birds whom he had, as he imagined, effectually snared and purposed plucking, would by that time, if all went well with our plans, have flown far beyond reach of his nervous arm!

The master asleep, we had no fear of interruption from any one else, for the old woman took her repose in the back kitchen, out of earshot of anything happening in the front of the house, and Smiley and the Cobbler were probably snoring away as composedly as their chief in the dormitories above, of which they were in charge; so, Tom and I at once began operations for effecting our “strategic retreat” from the establishment.

The windows of the refectory opened on to a narrow balcony that ran along the front of the house; and these, having heavy wooden shutters, fastened by horizontal iron bars, latching into a catch, we had some little difficulty in opening the one we fixed on for making our exit by, the bar securing it being some height from the floor and quite beyond our reach.

However, as Tom magniloquently quoted, difficulties were only made for brave men—or boys—to surmount. By lifting one of the forms as quietly as we could close to the window, and standing on this, the two of us managed to raise the iron bar from the catch and let it swing down, although the hinges made a terrible creaking noise in the operation, which we thought would waken Dr Hellyer up. However, on going to the door to listen again, we heard him still snoring, so we then proceeded to unfasten the window, letting in the cold night air, that made us shiver as it blew into the room from the sea.

It was quite dark when we got outside into the balcony, although we could see a star or two faintly glimmering overhead; while away to the westward, across the common, the red light at the pier-head marking the entrance to the harbour was visible.

Like most watering-places in the “dead season,” everybody went to bed early in the terrace; so that, although it could have been barely ten o’clock, not a light was to be seen from the windows of the neighbouring houses.

“Just the night for a burglary!” said Tom with a snigger, on our cautiously looking round us to see if the coast was clear.

“Yes,” I chimed in, joyously, “only, we are going to burgle out, instead of breaking in;” and we then both had a hearty chuckle at this little joke.

Still, no time was to be lost, now that we had got so far. The next thing, therefore, to do, was to descend the balcony; and, here, my happily-thought-of rope ladder came in handily to deliver us from durance vile.

Knotting it securely to the top rail of the balustrade, I gave it a strong tug or two to test its strength, making the balcony shake and tremble with the strain.

“Do you think it will bear our weight?” asked Tom, anxiously, noticing me do this and feeling the vibratory movement.

“Bear our weight, you shrimp,” I rejoined, “why, it would hold forty of us, and Dr Hellyer too!”

At this we both sniggered again, suppressing our merriment, however, for fear of being overheard; and then, drawing-to the shutter inside as close as I could, so that it should not show too plainly the fact of its being unbarred, and closing the window itself, which was a much easier task, we prepared to slide down to the pavement below.

“I had better go first,” I said to Tom, “I’m the heaviest; so, if I reach the ground all right, there’ll be no fear of the rope giving way with you.”

Tom argued the point, considering that the question was one of honour, like that of leading a forlorn hope; but, on my saying that I had planned the enterprise and thereby was entitled by right to be the first to venture down, quite apart from the fact of my supplying the rope, he yielded gracefully. Thereupon, without any more fuss, I got over the railings of the balcony, and holding on tightly to the frail cord with both hands, letting my legs drop, and then obtaining a grip below with my ankles, I allowed myself to slide down below, checking the rapidity of my descent by the knots I had previously placed there, a foot or so apart, for this especial purpose.

I swayed round a bit, but the rope held firmly; and in a few seconds I was standing on the steps below, waiting for Tom to join me.

He came down much easier than I did, from the fact of my holding the other end of our improvised ladder, thus preventing it from twirling him about in the same way as it had treated me, causing me almost to feel giddy.

As soon as he stood beside me I coiled up the end of the cord, flinging it back with a dexterous heave, in the way my sailor friend had taught me, over the balcony again, so that the end of it might not be seen hanging down, and so betray us too soon should any passer-by notice it.

“Come on, Tom,” I then said, “a long good-bye to the Doctor’s, my boy, the blessed place shall never see me again, if I can help it! Let us make for the quay now, and get on board the brig if we can—that is, unless it be too late, in which case we must hide somewhere till the morning.”

“All right,” he replied; and the two of us at once started off at a jog-trot up the terrace and along the road that led into the town.

We were successful so far, but we were almost captured on the threshold of victory through an unforeseen contingency; for, just as we turned round the corner of the terrace by the country inn, or “hotel,” which I had noticed on my way from the station when I first arrived at the place with Grimes, the cantankerous old railway porter escorting me to the school, who should we meet point-blank but that identical worthy!

He was evidently going home to bed having just been turned out of the inn, which was shutting up for the night. He had, apparently, spent a most enjoyable evening, for he seemed in good spirits—or, rather, perhaps had a pretty good amount of spirits or beer in him—as he reeled somewhat in his gait, and, although it was Sunday, was trying in his cracked falsetto voice to chant a Bacchanalian ditty assertive of the fact that he wouldn’t “go home till morning!”

But, in despite of being tipsy, he recognised us both instantly. He was in the habit of coming constantly to and from the station to Dr Hellyer’s with parcels, and was, besides, frequently employed by the Doctor in odd jobs about the house, consequently he was perfectly familiar with our faces—especially mine, which he had never forgotten since that little altercation I had with him on my first introduction. I believe the old fellow bore me a grudge for having spoken to him so peremptorily on that occasion, which even my present of sixpence had not been able to obliterate.

He saw us now without doubt, as we passed by hurriedly, close to one of the street lamps which shone down full upon us; and, alert in a moment, he hailed us at once.

“Hullo, you young vaggybones,” he screeched out with a hiccup; “where be ye off ter now, hey?”

We made no answer to this, only quickening our pace; and he staggered after us waveringly, wheezing out in broken accents, “I knows you, Master Bantam, I does, and you Tom Larkyns; and I’ll tell the Doctor, I will, sure—sure—sure-ly.”

But, unawed by this threat, we still went on at our jog-trot until we were well out of his sight, when, retracing our steps again, we watched at a safe distance to see what he would do. We were soon relieved, however, from any anxiety of his giving the alarm, for, although he attempted to take the turning leading down to the school, his legs, which had only been educated up to the point of taking him home and nowhere else after leaving the inn, must have refused to convey him in this new direction, for we could see him presently clinging to the lamp-post that had betrayed us, having a parley with the mutinous members—the upshot being that he abandoned any design he might have formed of going there and then to Dr Hellyer, postponing his statement as to what he had seen of us, as we could make out from his muttered speech, “till marn-ing,” and mingling his determination with the refrain of the ditty he had been previously warbling.

This was a lucky ending to what might otherwise have been a sad mischance, if Dr Hellyer had been at once made acquainted with our flight; so, devoutly thankful for our escape, we resumed our onward jog-trot towards the quay, which we reached safely shortly afterwards, without further incident or accident by the way.

After being out in the open air a little while, the evening did not seem nearly so dark as we had thought when first peering out from the window of the refectory before making our final exit from the school. Our eyes, probably, became more accustomed to the half-light; but whether or no this was the case, we managed to get down to the harbour as comfortably as if going there in broad day.

The brig which I had been on board of on many previous occasions, theSaucy Sall, of South Shields, was lying alongside the jetty in her old berth, with a plank leading up to the gangway; and, seeing a light in the fo’c’s’le, I mounted up to her deck, telling Tom to follow me, making my way forwards towards the glimmer.

All the hands were ashore, carousing with their friends, with the exception of one man, who was reading a scrap of newspaper by the light of a sputtering dip candle stuck into a ship’s lantern. He looked rather surprised at receiving a visit from me at such a time of night; but, on my telling him the circumstances of our case, he made us both welcome. Not only this, he brought out some scraps of bread and meat which he had stored up in a mess-tin, most likely for his breakfast, urging on us to “fire away,” as we were heartily free to it, and regretting that was all he had with which to satisfy our hunger.

This man’s name was Jorrocks, and he was the first seafaring acquaintance I had made when I had timidly crept down to the quay two years before during the summer vacation; thus, we were now old friends, so to speak. He told us, after we had polished the mess-tin clean, that the brig was going to sail in the morning, for Newcastle, with the tide, which would “make,” he thought, soon after sunrise.

“Why, that’ll be the very thing for us,” I exclaimed. “Nothing can be better!”

But Jorrocks shook his head.

“I don’t know how the skipper’d like it,” he said doubtingly.

“Oh, bother him,” interposed Tom; “can’t you hide us somewhere till the vessel gets out to sea; and then, he’ll have to put up with our presence whether he likes it or not?”

“What, hide you down below, my kiddies!” said the man, laughing. “Why, he’ll larrup the life out of you with a rope’s-end when he finds you aboard. I tell you what, he a’most murdered the last stowaway we had coming out of Shields two years ago!”

“Never mind that,” I put in here; “we’ll have to grin and bear it, and take monkey’s allowance if he cuts up rough. All we want to do now is to get away from here; for, no matter how your captain may treat us, Dr Hellyer would serve us out worse if he caught us again! Do help us, Jorrocks, like a good fellow! Stow us away in the hold, or somewhere, until we are out of port.”

Our united entreaties at last prevailed, Jorrocks consenting finally to conceal us on board the brig, although not until after much persuasion.

“Mind, though, you ain’t going to split on who helped yer?” he provisoed.

“No, Jorrocks, we pledge our words to that,” Tom and I chorused.

“Then, come along o’ me,” the good-natured salt said, and lifting the scuttle communicating with the hold forwards, he told us to get down into the forepeak, showing us how to swing by our hands from the coaming round the hole in the deck, as there was no ladder-way.

“There, you stow yourselves well forrud,” he enjoined, as soon as we had descended, chucking down a spare tarpaulin and some pieces of canvas after us to make ourselves comfortable with. “Lie quiet, mind,” he added as a parting injunction, “the rest of the hands and the skipper will be soon aboard, and it’ll be all up if they finds you out afore we start.”

“All right, we’ll be as still as if we’re dead,” I said.

“Then, belay there,” replied Jorrocks, shouting out kindly, as he replaced the hatch cover, which stopped up the entrance to our hiding place so effectually that the interior became as dark as Erebus. “Good, night, lads, and good fortune! I’ll try and smuggle you down some breakfast in the mornin’.”

“Thank you; good night!” we shouted in return, although we doubted whether he could hear us now the scuttle was on.

Thus left to ourselves, we scraped together, by feeling, as we could not see, the materials Jorrocks had supplied us with for a bed, on which we flung ourselves with much satisfaction, thoroughly tired out on account of the Doctor’s having kept us standing up all day, in addition to the exertions we had since made in making our escape from school.

The novelty of our new situation, combined with its strange surroundings, kept us awake for a little time, but we were too much fatigued both in body and mind for our eyelids to remain long open; and soon, in spite of our daring escapade and the fact that the unknown future was a world of mystery before us, we were as snugly asleep as if in our beds in the dormitory at Dr Hellyer’s—albeit we were down in the hold of a dirty coal brig, with our lullaby sung by the incoming tide, which was by this time nearly on the turn, washing and splashing by the bows of the vessel lying alongside the projecting jetty, in its way up the estuary of the river that composed the little harbour.

How long we had been in the land of dreams, and whether it was morning, mid-day, or night, we knew not, for a thick impenetrable darkness still filled the forehold where we were stowed; but, Tom and myself awoke to the joyful certainty that we were at sea, or must be so—not only from the motion of the brig, as she plunged up and down, with an occasional heavy roll to port or starboard; but from the noise, also, that the waves made, banging against her bow timbers, as if trying to beat them in, and the trampling of the crew above on the deck over our heads.

We listened to these sounds for hours, unable to see anything and having nought else to distract our attention, until Tom, becoming somewhat affected by the smell of the bilge water in the hold as well as by the unaccustomed rocking movement of the brig, began to feel sea-sick and fretful.

“I declare this is worse than the Doctor’s,” he complained.

“We’ll soon be let out,” I said, “and then you’ll feel better.”

But, the friendly Jorrocks did not appear; and, at length, wearied out at last by our vain watching, we both sank off to sleep again on our uneasy couch.

After a time we woke up again. There was a noise as if the hatchway was being raised, and then the welcome gleam of a lantern appeared above the orifice.

It was Jorrocks come to relieve us, we thought; and so we both started up instantly.

The hour for our deliverance had not yet arrived, however.

“Steady!” cried our friend. “We’re just off Beachy Head, and you must lie where you are till mornin’; but, as you must be famished by now, I’ve brought you a bit of grub to keep your pecker up. Show a hand, Master Martin!”

I thereupon stretched out upwards, and Jorrocks, reaching downwards, placed in my grip our old acquaintance of the previous night, the mess-tin, filled with pieces of beef and potatoes mixed up together, after which he shoved on the hatchway cover again, as if somebody had suddenly interrupted him.

I made a hearty meal, although Tom felt too qualmish to eat much, and then we both lay down with the assurance that our troubles would probably soon be over.

I suppose we went to sleep again, for it seemed but a very brief interval, when, awaking with a start, I perceived the hatchway open.

“Rouse up, Tom,” said I, shaking him; “we’d better climb on deck at once.”

“All right,” replied Tom, jumping up, and he was soon on the fo’c’s’le, with me after him.

“Who the mother’s son are you?” a gruff voice exclaimed; and, looking round, I saw the skipper of the brig advancing from aft, brandishing a handspike.

I immediately stepped forwards in front of Tom.

“We’ve run away to sea, sir,” I explained.

“So I see,” said the skipper, drawing nearer; “but, what right have you to come aboard my craft?”

“We couldn’t help it, sir,” I answered, civilly, wishing to propitiate him. “It was our only chance.”

“Oh, then you’ll find it a poor one, youngster,” said he grimly. “Boatswain!”

“Aye, aye, sir!” responded Jorrocks, stepping up.

“Do you know these boys?”

“I’ve seen ’em at Beachampton,” said our friend.

“You don’t know how they came aboard, eh?”

“No, I can’t say as how I can say, ’zactly, cap’en.”

“Well, then tie ’em up to the windlass and fetch me a rope’s-end. Now, my jokers,” added he, turning to us, “I’ve sworn to larrup every stowaway I ever finds in my brig, and I’m a going to larrup you now!”

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